Time Out
by jespah
Summary: Dana 'Mack' MacKenzie and her barnstorming sports team were, seemingly inexplicably, changed, as time was altered by a careless firing of imperfect and poorly understood technology. The only people who knew – and knew enough to look – were the employees of the Temporal Integrity Commission, in the 32nd century. Could the problem be fixed in time?
1. 1-Perception

_Everything seemed normal._

A man strode down a corridor on an advanced, state of the art ship, the Enterprise-E. His destination was the Bridge. He was a handsome guy, almost fifty-eight years of age, and was the First Officer. His name was Martin Douglas Madden.

The door to the turbolift obediently swished open, and then he saw that the lift was already occupied by the day shift Tactical Officer, who held a Lieutenant Commander's rank. She was shorter than he, and a good seven years younger, with brown eyes and hair and a mischievous smile. She was Misty Dana MacKenzie, who everyone called _Dana._

That is, everybody but Madden, who had known her since she was a few weeks old, the first infant he had ever been trusted enough to hold, as she was his second cousin. He called her _Mystic_ _,_ and they had a close bond. She, in turn, was the only one to call him _Marty_ _,_ or even the _Straight Arrow_ , on occasion.

"'Mornin', Mystic."

"Heya, Straight Arrow." She had a PADD in her hands and checked it briefly as it showed the last bit of the date – the old-style year, _2380_ _._ Her touch jogged the device out of sleep mode. "A Tactical Officer's work is never done."

"Hey, you asked for this life," he smiled a small, slightly crooked, smile. "Then again, I did, too."

The trip to the Bridge was a short one. When the lift door opened, they were greeted warmly by the captain, Jean-Luc Picard. The counselor's spot was filled by a lovely Caitian named M'Belle. The pilot was a fellow named Wesley Crusher, recently returned from years with a Tau Ceti native known only as The Traveler.

As Dana approached, the night shift Tactical Officer, Michael Daniels, vacated her work station. "How's it looking, Mike?" she asked.

"Smooth sailing," he reported.

"Ready to head to the old Delphic Expanse?" asked Picard, as Mike departed, along with others from the night shift.

"Definitely; let's see if the phenomenon is happening in the Ceti Alpha System," Marty answered.

"Ahead Warp Factor Four, Mister Crusher," commanded Picard.

"Yes, sir," replied the young Lieutenant.

Picard hit a few keys on his console. "Mister LaForge, how's everything going in Engineering?"

"B-4 and I are ready to measure any radiation band cycling we come up against," replied the Chief Engineer, referring to his android assistant. "That new engineer seems to be working out all right. He was even early today."

"Richard Daniels is it?" asked Picard.

"I wonder if he's related to Lieutenant Commander Daniels," M'Belle mused.

"I'll ask," Geordi offered.

"Oh, that's all right," replied the Caitian, "it's just a bit of curiosity. You know, it can be fatal to us felinoids."

"Mister LaForge?" Captain Picard asked.

"Yes, sir?"

"Given that we're on our way to the old Delphic Expanse, there is the possibility of encountering some residual spatial anomalies. Are you prepared?"

"We are," Geordi replied. "I've got extra trellium-D lining cargo bay four and, if Mister Crusher needs any assistance, either B-4 or I could work on plotting a course around the worst of it."

"We should calibrate our shield frequencies as well," Dana piped up, "and modulate them if we encounter any such disturbances."

"Go to Engineering," Picard commanded her, "and work out the details."

"Aye, sir."

Dana left the Bridge, and got to the turbolift as quickly as she could. When the door swished open, she found herself face to face not only with B-4 and Geordi, but also the new engineering assistant, too. "Uh, hi, there."

"Dana MacKenzie," Geordi said, "this is Rick Daniels. He'll be working with you on the shield modulation calculations."

They shook hands, and the fellow smiled at her. He had a not unpleasant face. To Dana, he seemed to have the kind of swaggery confidence that makes people seem far better-looking than they truly, objectively, are. He had brown hair, closely cropped, and blue eyes. He was, perhaps, within five years of her age, which was fifty-one. Younger, definitely. But there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "How d'ya do?" he asked.

"So formal! You any relation to Mike?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. I guess we're all related, somehow, eh? Didn't all humans evolve from the same four people or something like that?"

"It's something like that. Whoever they were, they gave me crooked lower teeth," she told him.

"I couldn't tell. Something tells me," Rick countered, "that the Statute of Limitations has run on blaming them for something like that."

"Maybe I'll just appeal, then," she smiled, flirting back a bit.

"Dana?" Geordi asked, clearing his throat a little.

"Yes, yes, of course. Sorry about that. Now, here's the deal, Rick," she glanced at Geordi and B-4, "and while I recognize that you may have gotten the lowdown from Lieutenant Commander LaForge and B-4 here, with all due respect, I think that's more of an engineering perspective. So allow me to give you more of a tactical one, if I may."

"Oh?" he asked.

"Yes, well, for the past year or so, we've been observing what we like to call _radiation band cycling_ _._ The bottom line is that our own hydrogen line, here, the precession frequency of neutral hydrogen atoms, is twenty-one centimeters. But we're seeing other radiation bands. The big muckety-mucks claim it's coming from other universes."

"What do _**you**_ think?" Rick looked Dana in the eyes as he questioned her.

"I don't really know. But if these are coming from other universes, then that tells me that there are all sorts of hydrogen line variations that are potentially viable. Or it could be something else."

"You never told me any of this," Geordi said, "What's your theory, Dana?"

"I think it's all coming from one place."

"What is the basis for your reasoning?" inquired B-4. The android was very human-looking, and he cocked his head slightly as he posed his inquiry.

"See, I think it's strange that all of these other universes would have decided, at the exact same time, to make with the radiation band cycling. I mean, how do you organize something like that?"

"Party in the twenty-one centimeter band?" Rick asked, flashing a quick and ready grin.

"Could be," she grinned back, "but that also makes me wonder why we weren't invited. Or if, well, why are we hosting, it seems."

"Synchronicity would imply organized actions," B-4 stated.

"Right," Dana confirmed, "and to my mind that means that it's either this huge transuniversal group doing this or we should apply Occam's Razor to this."

"Okay," Rick agreed, "so if we simplify matters, we're left with, uh, what, exactly, in your opinion?"

"One universe doing the deed, radiation band unknown," Dana said, "and they cycle whatever it is they're adjusting, shooting, whatever, see?"

"Why?" asked Geordi.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "but maybe they're looking for resources, or worlds to conquer. Maybe they're trying to poke a hole through. Or maybe they just wanna say _hi_ _._ "

"There is apparently a great deal of effort being expended," B-4 stated, "and so logic would dictate that the purpose of this activity goes beyond simple greetings."

"I gotta say, I agree with that assessment," Geordi said. "But I don't think it has to be sinister. Maybe there's just some explorer out there, looking to make a name for himself or herself."

"Huh," Dana thought for a moment. "So maybe we won't assume a hostile intent, at least not to start and not until we have evidence of nefarious motives. But they cycle and they cycle and they cycle. I am thinking that they're getting some sort of a reflective signal. They ping us, they ping the thirty-five centimeter band, or forty-two or forty-nine or whatever, and they get something back from that. So far, I'm guessing that they don't have any sort of a response that they consider to be meaningful. Maybe they'll never get one. But I have to believe that they're gonna keep trying until either they run out of interest and patience, time, or money, or …."

"Or they **succeed,** " Rick finished for her.

"Right," Geordi said, "so they get a response of some sort. Do you rest on your laurels, and call it a day? Do you study the result but never go back to it? Do you repeat your actions, over and over again, attempting to replicate them?"

B-4 interjected, "It would appear that the activities centering on success would differ, depending upon the function, and possibly the origins, of whoever was performing the testing."

"Exactly," Dana said, "a scientist would try to duplicate results. But a warrior would reach into the hole and try to punch through it, and make it bigger."

"Possibly," allowed the android.

"I don't mean to sound paranoid," Dana clarified, "I'm just a bit concerned."

"I don't think you're overreacting at all, if that's what's worrying you," Rick assured her.

"Thanks. Now, let's see about those shield modulations."

As Dana and Rick worked, and Geordi and B-4 sometimes assisted, a message was tapped out, by a certain operative, belonging to a certain organization. That organization was dedicated to espionage, and its designation was **Section 31.**

The operative, who was aboard the _Enterprise-E_ , wrote a message to one Harriet Caul, the head of Section 31.

 _Proceeding to Ceti Alpha System in the old Delphic Expanse as planned. No word yet on the origin of the radiation band cycling. The official explanation is, still, that the phenomenon is a natural one._

The message was sent via several hidden and encrypted channels, as the operative crawled into bed. That person also picked up a plain necklace and put it on before going to sleep.

This was no ordinary necklace; it was not merely decorative. It was functional. It was composed of an amplifying alloy from the Lafa System, called callidium.

Callidium permitted psionic dream contact between two or more dreamers, either in the user's own universe or in a closely-related universe, which vibrated on a twenty centimeter band and was colloquially known as the Mirror Universe.

The alloy did not create psionic abilities; those had to have already been present in the user. Instead, it served to boost preexisting signals and receptions. It was of a dull gray color and, to anyone not in the know, it appeared similar to plain tin.

The operative had no need for callidium for communicating within the prime universe. A standard communications system was all that was required. Instead, the callidium was needed in order to cross-communicate with the operative's true employer, who was in the **Mirror Universe.**

=/\=

On the Bridge, Captain Picard asked, "Mister Madden?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you have any theories about this radiation band cycling phenomenon we've been encountering?"

"Oh, well, it'll require further testing. But I suspect that there's intelligence behind it. Whether that intelligence is friendly or hostile, well, that much remains to be seen, of course."

"Indeed." There was a small bump, so the captain added, "Steady as she goes, Mister Crusher."

"Aye, sir."

When the work day was finished, and the night shift had come back on duty, Dana, Marty, Geordi, B-4, Wesley, M'Belle, Captain Picard, and the remainder of the day shift all either retired to their quarters or visited with friends or went to the lounge called Ten Forward or otherwise enjoyed their leisure time.

 _All but one man._

He did go to quarters. But then he had other plans.

Richard Daniels tapped twice on his left ear, to engage a tiny communicator that was permanently implanted there. " _Audrey_ ," he commanded, "bring life support back up, and temperature. Signal me when ready." He then took a small device, shaped like a wand, and pointed toward the bed in his quarters. Nearly immediately, the bed was cloaked by a hologram of himself, sleeping, rumpled sheets, snoring, cover pulling and all. A beep in his ear signified that Audrey was ready.

"All right," he said, "beam me back, _Audrey_ _._ " He was beamed back to his own ship – his _**real**_ ship – a small, cloaked time ship, built in the first year of the thirty-second century, the _Audrey Niffenegger_.

Everyone else, even the operative who was straddling Section 31 and the Mirror Universe, thought that things were fine, and life was going along according to Hoyle.

They were all wrong. Only Richard Daniels knew that it was not.


	2. 2-Alterations

**Chapter 2 – Alterations**

Rick Daniels beamed aboard the _Audrey Niffenegger_ and chuckled slightly. "Far as they're concerned, everything's as normal as can be. They are so wrong."

He hit a few keys on his PADD, and its look converted from a twenty-fourth century design to a design from the thirty-second century as it decloaked. "There, now, that's better. Let's go over the specifics. Computer?"

The PADD answered, although it was tied into the shipboard computer as well.

 _Working_

"Give me the major changes."

 _Provide temporal parameters_

"Just for 2380, to start."

 _ **Enterprise-E c**_ _rew is altered radically. Ship's day shift counselor position is held by a Caitian named M'Belle. In the original history, this position remained unfilled at this time. The position of day shift Tactical Officer is held by Dana MacKenzie. In the original history, this role was held by your ancestor, Michael Daniels, who is currently the night shift Tactical Officer, in this particular alternate timeline._

"Where is my ancestor Dana MacKenzie supposed to be?"

 _This subject, in the original history, is the player-coach for a barnstorming sports team known as the Black Sheep. M'Belle, in the original history, is a player on that team._

"Interesting; I bet the problem started either on the _Enterprise-E_ and the Black Sheep's ship at the same time, or at least in those same locations. Tell me what happened to the rest of that team."

 _Most of the team has displaced_ _ **Enterprise-E**_ _crew members from the original history. M'Belle and Dana MacKenzie are the only day shift officers in that group. Night shift officers include pilot Daniya, engineer Yi'imspi and counselor Darren Shaw. The remainder of the team who are on the_ _ **Enterprise-E**_ _are enlisted personnel._

"How many people are we talking about?"

 _Including Bridge crew, there are a total of fifty-five persons associated with the Black Sheep who remained on that team's ship. This does not include team attorney Cyril Morgan Yarin, or co-owner Martin Madden, another ancestor of yours. Thirty-seven of these persons are aboard the_ _ **Enterprise-E,**_ _plus Madden. Thirty-one are enlisted personnel._

"Name the enlisted personnel."

 _Fourteen are day shift enlisted personnel. They are – Adeel, Chammin, Cilla, Dathan, Effenston, Grosk, Inshar, Lethar, Loth, Reskin, Steffa, T'Val, Tarjil and Trechek. The remaining seventeen are night shift personnel …_

=/\=

Asleep, the operative made contact. Contact was not easy. Both parties had to be receptive and had to have a sufficient amount of callidium on their persons. Both had to be asleep, and in REM sleep as well.

Another factor was the number and degree of sodium vapor flares emanating and passing between two of the stars in the Lafa System, in both universes. In the prime universe, these were an orange medium-sized star and a red dwarf, named Fep and Ub, respectively. In the Mirror Universe, the necessary stars were white and yellow, and were called Lo and Abic, respectively.

Because the sodium flare intensity varied during a Calafan year and the two universes were, inconveniently, not in perfect synchronization with each other, sometimes contact could be asynchronous, or it could be staticky or sparky with ionization, or it could fail altogether. Parties who were remote from the Lafa System often needed to make adjustments.

But on this particular evening – _February the twelfth of 2380_ – contact was achieved. It helped that the person who the operative was contacting was actually in the Lafa System, although he was not Calafan. But that place was bursting with callidium, in both the natural ore and refined forms.

He was mostly human, although he did have a touch of Vulcan blood in him – even though Vulcans had only recently been emancipated. He was Charles Tucker XI, and he had, up until 2370, been known as the Emperor Charles VI.

But that had been before it had all gone horribly pear-shaped on that side of the pond. The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance had seized power, and they had been none too friendly.

At least they'd been merciful enough to allow him to retain his life. Exiled, humiliated, and somewhat broke, he had settled, much like a few of his ancestors had done, in the wilds of the southern hemisphere's main forest on Lafa II, the _Dary Woods._ That is, the _Fire Woods._

Lying on a thin mattress on a bed in a tiny cabin, he appeared nothing at all like an Emperor, not even a former one. He was dressed in tatters, and hadn't shaved in months. He was part-Asian, and that, along with his Vulcan eyebrows and wild facial hair, gave him an appearance not unlike a Mongolian herdsman from Earth's pre-industrial period. He fell asleep, holding a dagger made of pure callidium, and was able to make contact.

 _He greeted the operative and, after they had exchanged some minimal pleasantries, he asked, "Well?"_

 _"_ _I have been observing," the operative reported. "They hired a new assistant engineer recently, day shift."_

 _"_ _Oh?" Charles asked, "Why should this matter to me?"_

 _"_ _I checked his radiation band. Richard Daniels is 20.4275300."_

 _Charles thought for a moment. "How is this possible? A direct cross-breed between the two universes would split the difference between here – twenty centimeters – and where you are – twenty-one. Hence that individual would sport a personal radiation band of 20.5 centimeters."_

 _"_ _Right," agreed the operative, "it's inherited. The only humans we know of with a radiation band of under twenty-one are the thirteen known living descendants of Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett. It is funny how four of those people are on the_ _ **Enterprise-E**_ _–_ _Martin Madden, Dana MacKenzie, Michael Daniels and Geordi LaForge."_

 _"_ _Are you certain your equipment is functioning properly?"_

 _"_ _Positive," replied the operative, "with a surname of Daniels, I have to assume that he's a relation of Michael Daniels."_

 _"_ _Right," replied Charles, "but Michael's radiation band is 20.9 something or other, right?"_

 _"_ _20.9999632," confirmed the operative. "Hence my theory is that someone else, some other human, crossed over from the Mirror Universe to here."_

 _"_ _Interesting theory, but after Hayes got here, the only other incident, before this century, is in 2267, over the Halkan home world. According to the historical records that you provided to me, those people were immediately thrown into the brig on the_ _ **NCC-1701**_ _. And the crossover by the_ _ **Discovery**_ _wasn't long enough for anyone to sire a child."_

 _"_ _No detours," the operative confirmed._

 _"_ _Could there be incest in this family, or just a lot of cousin marriages?" asked Charles._

 _"_ _There would have to be several. I'm forced to conclude that either Richard Daniels is related to someone who comes from some centimeter fractional universe, or …."_

 _"_ _Come again?"_

 _"_ _The radiation band, the hydrogen line – there's no reason whatsoever for it to only be organized into perfect centimeter increments. There have got to be universes which split some of these differences. Some might be rather minute fractions indeed."_

 _"_ _Fair enough," he allowed, "you mentioned there was some other reason but then I interrupted you."_

 _"_ _Yes, well, the other possibility is that there is some other transuniversal crossover which we don't know about."_

The other possibility – which was the correct explanation, was that Rick was simply from the future – and that one never crossed their minds.

=/\=

Rick settled in to sleep on the _Audrey Niffenegger_. He had an impressively large bed, with black satin sheets and a comforter with a sophisticated geometric pattern. It was a pity that he was the only one occupying it, he thought to himself. "Dim lights to fifteen percent illumination." The ship complied.

There were colored bands on his left wrist, marks of his heritage, which was part-Calafan, along with human, Terran and a smattering of Vulcan. There was a copper band and then a silver one next to it, which was closer to his fingers. The copper came from a Mirror Universe Calafan ancestor; the silver was from a prime universe Calafan ancestor.

While the naturally-occurring bands were both laced with callidium, he still needed a boost, as a goodly chunk of his heritage did not have psionic capabilities. He had two pieces of jewelry that he always wore on a chain around his neck. One was a dull gray skeleton key charm and the other was a Xindi initiation medal. He never took them off. "Okay," he said quietly to himself, "let's make contact."

Rick's dream began as a series of doors in a long hallway.

 _He passed by several of these doors as others who were making or attempting dream contact would pass him in the hallway. Most of them met others and quickly retreated behind doors that were then shut tightly. Single women – and a few men – would, at times, look him over. But he only had one person in mind – Carmen._

Carmen Calavicci was a young admiral on a fast promotion track. At the Temporal Integrity Commission, in 3101, she was the leader of the small Human Unit. However, not all of that unit was human.

The department consisted of her – she was human; Kevin O'Connor, who was part-Gorn and part-human; Otra D'Angelo, who was half-Witannen and half-human; and Levi Cavendish, who was all-human but also rather squirrely and strange and often got on her nerves. Kevin and Levi were engineers, whereas Otra had an interesting gift that allowed her to see temporal alternates, even faster than Kevin's computers. Rick was the only true time traveler on the team but, when he needed help, the only person who could convincingly and properly fill in was Carmen.

After all, Kevin weighed nearly a quarter of a metric ton and had scaly extremities, and Otra had, in lieu of hair, flower-like semi-sentient moving chavecoi growing out of her scalp. Levi was just too odd, distracted and ADHD-addled to be any good at the sort of small and large deceptions and nuances necessary for time traveling.

 _It took a few tries, and checking a few doors in his dream, but he finally got her._

 _"_ _Car," he asked, how are things in the Mirror Universe?"_

 _"_ _It's a bloody dark passage here," she complained, her British accent becoming more pronounced than usual in her stress. "The treatment of women here is appalling. My bum's getting awfully sore from all the pinching."_

 _He smiled for a second, and then stopped when he noticed her looking at him, even in the dream. Still, she did have a rather nice backside. "Have you located Eleven yet?"_

 _"_ _No, I have not," she admitted, "Charles Tucker the Eleventh is proving to be quite an elusive little bugger. At least the records on Lafa II are readable, and are more or less intact. But it looks like he got here a good ten years ago or so, and then they lost track of him. How're things going on your side?"_

 _"_ _So far, so good. They don't suspect a thing. But it is definitely messed up."_

 _"_ _Well, they wouldn't suspect anything," she said, "To them, this is bloody well normal. Have you got everything Otra and Kevin sent?"_

 _"_ _I do," he said, "but let's refresh my memory anyway."_

 _Even in a dream, she rolled her eyes at him. "Richard, you are lucky that you're good at this."_

 _"_ _Had you any doubt, Carmen?"_

 _"_ _Just go over the thirty-second century changes, if you must."_

 _"_ _All right," he cleared his throat. The wonders of Calafan-style dreaming were that there was just so much damned detail. You could use all of your senses, so enjoying a meal or stopping and smelling the roses were both possible pursuits. But a dreamer could also get a dry throat. "Otra said she saw Eleven restored to power. It was a big ceremony and everything."_

 _"_ _Precisely," Carmen confirmed, "and the interregnum was nowhere near as short as all that, at least not, in the original hist'ry. Plus the other side decided they were going to attack, it was back before you and I were born, Richard."_

 _"_ _Uh huh."_

 _"_ _Otra also saw, well, we all saw this; it was on the bloody viewer," Carmen added, "that the Terran Empire was running the prime universe. Do you imagine they broke through, during this time period?"_

 _"_ _I'd say that's a reasonable hypothesis," Rick agreed, "which would mean that the source of the radiation band cycling had better be found soon."_

 _"_ _What I don't get," she said, "is why they're bothering with cycling at all. They know about the prime universe already. They've got confirmation from the 2267 switch and from the more recent excursions through the wormhole near Deep Space Nine. They even know 'bout the_ _ **Discovery**_ _and her spore hub drive."_

 _"_ _Not to mention Calafan confirmation. Huh," he thought for a moment. "I wonder if they're looking for something else."_

 _"_ _I beg your pardon?"_

 _"_ _Something easier. Or maybe they think the forty-one centimeter band – or whatever – has more firepower. Maybe they think they'll be able to gain allies in conquering us."_

 _"_ _Possibly. Or perhaps they simply don't have good control over their technology. They may be aiming for twenty-one centimeters, but the target isn't being hit reliably."_

 _"_ _I'm sure I dunno. Carmen?"_

 _"_ _Hmmm?"_

 _"_ _Where did you end up sheltering?"_

 _"_ _There's a small subdivision of charity housing. All you need to do is sign a PADD document, stating that you're prepared to work, in order to cover rent and fees. I said I'd make deliveries. I figure I can continue searching for Eleven as I travel 'round. They're trusting enough to allow me to go out by myself. I believe that, so long as I perform my appointed task and make my rounds, they'll keep me on."_

 _"_ _Okay."_

 _"_ _What about the_ _ **Enterprise-E**_ _?"_

 _"_ _There are too many people out of place here. I can't help but to feel there's a connection among the Mirror Universe, the_ _ **Enterprise-E**_ _, and Dana MacKenzie's sports team. But I'm not seeing it yet."_

=/\=

 _"_ _How close are you to breaking through?" asked the operative._

 _"_ _Not quite there yet," Charles admitted. "I need for you to step up your game."_

 _"_ _Well, I'm working as fast as I can."_

 _"_ _It's not fast enough. I need to be back in power, yesterday. Don't forget the kind of rewards, wealth and status you'll get if you're successful."_

 _"_ _Yeah, well, I'll believe all that when I see it. You were living in a hut, last I saw."_

 _"_ _I still am. But it's all interrelated," he clarified. "I can't exactly get back in unless I can deliver the other side of the pond. The less than accurate modified pulse cannon is not helping things. I need you to get me better tech."_

 _"_ _When I placed the pulse cannon near Point Abic on your side of things," the operative explained, "I didn't exactly have the time to calibrate it properly. You're lucky it's up and running at all._ _So now you're stuck, until either I can get back and do it, or you can, heh, sully your royal hands and fix it yourself, Charles."_

 _"_ _I don't think so," the former head of the Terran Empire sneered. "But there's one more possibility, to get it all to finally work out."_

 _"_ _Oh?"_

 _"_ _It could finally just snap into place, and work properly, for once."_

 _"_ _Who can tell? There might be a miracle," the operative laughed a bit, "although I wouldn't count on it, if I were you. Still, in all seriousness, it's far more likely to be fixed if you just march on over there and do it. You're even on the right planet, for God's sake. There's engineering in your DNA."_

 _"_ _You know I can't do that," Charles's tone was a bit testy. "They didn't kill me a decade ago, and they certainly could have. But you know they're gunning for me now."_

 _"_ _They'll stop all that nonsense if you can deliver this universe, on a silver, heh, platter."_

 _"_ _Exactly," Charles said, "and, well, you know we're not big on saying thank you here, but I am appreciative. We'll conquer and we'll bring those thirteen expatriates back here, to this side of the pond, where they belong. You'll get your rewards beyond measure."_

 _"_ _Fourteen."_

 _"_ _Fourteen?"_

 _"_ _You're forgetting about Richard Daniels."_

 _"_ _Ah, yes," Charles stroked his beard. Even in a shared Calafan-type dream, he still sported an impressive beard, the kind that could comfortably hold multiple birds' nests. "If he's from some other viable universe, then we can see about making him a deal."_

 _"_ _What if he's evidence of some other crossover, or two, or more?"_

 _"_ _Then we'll find out what he knows. If he doesn't cooperate, you'll kill him."_

=/\=

 _"_ _So do we know what we're going to do?" Carmen sought confirmation. She was senior to Richard, but he was the lead on this mission, plus he was the professional time traveler. If she had only had more travelers at her disposal, she wouldn't have had to have come along at all._

 _"_ _You find Eleven. I'll find the connection to MacKenzie and the others. We'll both see if we can't get a handle on the radiation band cycling, and stop it, before there's a more permanent rift. Or if we can't stop that, at least we'll get the whole thing prevented, by going back in time far enough."_

 _"_ _Agreed," Carmen said. "It's very nearly morning. I'll continue checking here, and I'll be investigating whatever I can dredge up on Eleven from the last decade. Perhaps you should do the same, for MacKenzie and the others."_

 _"_ _Good idea. See you tomorrow night, Car. Daniels out."_


	3. 3-Bands

The following morning brought with it a request for a breakfast meeting to some, but not all, of the senior staff.

 _To: (hidden list)_

 _You are required to attend a meeting in the Observation Lounge at 0800 hours today. The topic of this meeting, and its complete contents, are subject to the absolute level of confidentiality. You are hereby, with respect to this meeting, its subject matter, the list of attendees and all subsequent follow up meetings or messages, required to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality. Any revelation of this meeting, its attendees or subject matter, or of any subsequent follow ups, of any form, is an offense subject to court martial._

Dana looked at her PADD. She was getting dressed, and hit her communicator, which was still sitting on her desk. "MacKenzie to Madden."

"Mystic?"

"Yeah, uh, I can't see you for breakfast today. I have, uh, things."

"That's okay," he said, "I've got things, too."

"Maybe they're the same things."

"Let's hope so," he said, "I hate having to keep things from you."

=/\=

Geordi contacted Rick. "I've got a meeting this morning. I'm sorry to do this to you so early in your time here, but I'll be out and I have no idea how long this'll take. Think you can handle running Engineering for a few hours?"

"Uh, sure," Rick said, not telling Geordi that the warp engines were rather primitive, by his time's standards. "Who are you meeting with?"

"I can't say. Just, I'll be back when I can. LaForge out."

Rick tapped on his PADD, adding a quick note to himself.

 _There's a top secret meeting this morning involving LaForge at least, maybe more. If it is what I think it is, it's coming a good year later than in the original history. Chalk this up as another temporal dislocation._

=/\=

The doors of the Observation Lounge swished open. Dana smiled when she saw Marty, and sat down next to him. "I was hoping you'd be here," he murmured.

"Same here."

Geordi sat across from her, with B-4 next to him. At the foot of the table was Mike Daniels. There were muffins and bagels on trays, with fixings, plus a bowl of fruit and a stack of plates. Coffee sat in a hot pot on a trivet.

Captain Picard arrived last. "My apologies," he said, by way of greeting, "a few last-minute instructions for all. Now," he got in front of the room's replicator, and commanded, "Earl Grey, hot." He turned to the rest of the people in the room, "do help yourselves. This is going to be a long meeting."

"I'm a little curious," Marty said, as he took a blueberry muffin, "why Paj Terris and some of the other members of the senior staff aren't here – Doctor Crusher, for instance."

"All will be revealed shortly," Picard said. He tapped on a desktop console and it sprang to life. "Protocol one, authorization _Picard Phi Omicron."_ There was a pause, as communications were scrambled, connected, and then unscrambled again. Desktop screens were filled with the faces of the Federation flag officers, the head of Section 31, and the Federation President. The latter two were in split screen.

The President, Jaresh-Inyo, spoke first. "I'm sure you're rather curious about this meeting. Before I begin, we will patch in two more persons." There was a nod, and Admiral Kathryn Janeway made the connections. Two more faces were shown in split screen. "For those of you who do not know them, this is Ensign Tamsin Porter of the _USS Talos,_ and Lilienne Charlotte Hayes, a botanist who is stationed on Ceres."

Hayes nodded while Porter grinned, making eyes at Marty Madden. Porter then added, "Hiya, Great-Aunt Lilienne."

Jaresh-Inyo nodded, and Admiral Alynna Nechayev checked a PADD before speaking. "The six of you, plus B-4, are here because the six of you are close blood relations." Everyone began looking around. Porter's grin vanished. "But what is most interesting," Nechayev continued, "is not only that you are related. It is the hydrogen line that you are all carrying."

"Sirs," Dana ventured, "I've got two questions that I bet everyone else has. First off, while I know how Commander Madden and I are related, what about everyone else? And, uh, why does it matter?"

"What's a hydrogen line?" Tamsin interjected.

"I'll start with the last question," said Admiral Charles Whatley. "The hydrogen line defines which universe you belong to. In our universe, the hydrogen line is twenty-one centimeters long. It refers to the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. "

"I beg your pardon?" asked Lilienne.

"It's a unique signature for all universes. The other term for the hydrogen line is one well known to the crew of the _Enterprise,"_ explained Admiral Jack Strickler, "it's called the radiation band."

"Ah, now it's making some sense," Marty said. "But everybody here should have a radiation band of twenty-one centimeters."

"They _should,_ yes," allowed T'Lara, one of the flag officers, "yet the six of you have bands that are less than twenty-one centimeters long."

"Wait, _what?"_ asked Geordi.

B-4 explained, "I was asked to incorporate a radiation band testing system into my programming. I used it to test everyone on the ship. As for Ensign Porter and Ms. Hayes, I was able to check transporter signature records for several years."

"The other seven living persons with a radiation band of under twenty-one centimeters were found by a careful combing of records," Janeway explained, "We looked at birth records, in addition to public transporter data."

"Wait, there are a total of thirteen of us like this?" asked Tamsin.

"One of the others has got to be my sister, Ariana," Geordi said.

"Your father as well, Mister LaForge," said Admiral Nechayev.

"My mother, and my grandfather, I bet, seeing as my great-aunt is here," stated Tamsin.

"Yes, your mother, and her father," confirmed Janeway.

"Who are the others?" Mike Daniels asked. "Is it that new guy, Daniels?"

"He has not yet been tested," B-4 explained.

"I will send everyone the list," declared the head of Section 31, Harriet Caul. "The thirteen persons are on the list I am sending right now."

Everyone heard a ding on their PADD or saw a flash, indicating the presence of a new message. The list was ordered as follows –

1\. _Douglas Daniels, born in 2305  
2\. Michael Daniels, born in 2341  
3\. Lilienne Charlotte Hayes, born in 2309  
4\. Ariana LaForge, born in 2337  
5\. Edward LaForge, born in 2322  
6\. Geordi LaForge, born in 2335  
7\. Misty Dana MacKenzie, born in 2329  
8\. Martin Douglas Madden, born in 2322  
9\. Jay Neil Hayes, born in 2307  
10\. Sheilagh Hayes Porter, born in 2331  
11\. Tamsin Porter, born in 2354  
12\. Tina Reed O'Connor, born in 2291  
13\. Kevin Reed, born in 2344_

Everyone present at the meeting, including Picard, checked and read their messages. "The names are divided into six subfamilies," explained Nechayev. "There is the Daniels branch, the Hayes-Porter branch, the LaForge branch, the Reed-O'Connor branch and the Madden and MacKenzie branches. It is most interesting that nearly half of these people are Starfleet, plus Edward LaForge is retired from Starfleet. I'm sure we'll find out interesting things about the other six persons, in time. In the meantime, this information remains absolutely confidential."

"What are the specifics?" inquired Picard.

"There is a book; it will explain the beginning of all of this," said Caul. She tapped her PADD a few times. "There, I have sent it to you all."

Lilienne looked up. " _The Human Pioneers of Lafa II?_ My brother Jay and I were born on Lafa II."

"But what about that guy Daniels who works for Geordi here?" Mike insisted.

"Well, the name isn't exactly a rare one," Tamsin pointed out.

"Still, perhaps there is a fourteenth family member," Picard speculated.

"Maybe," Janeway allowed. "Now, the one common ancestor who all of you have is a man named Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett. He was born on December third, 2102, and he died on June thirtieth, 2181. Lilienne Hayes, Tamsin Porter, her mother and grandfather, Michael Daniels and his father, and the LaForge family, plus O'Connor and Reed, all of you come from Beckett's marriage to Lili O'Day. She was the sous-chef on the _NX-01."_

"I must be named after her," Lilienne mused.

Dana swallowed and looked at Marty. They had been, somehow, left out.

"However," Whatley picked up the thread of the narrative, "this was an open marriage. Beckett had a paramour named Melissa Madden, and he had children with her, as well. Commander Madden and Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie are both from that branch."

"So Commander Madden and I aren't as closely related as the others are?" Dana asked.

"Correct," replied Caul. "One thing that draws the other branch closer is that O'Day also had a paramour. She and the _NX-01_ 's Tactical Officer, Malcolm Reed, had a son named Declan. Declan is an ancestor to O'Connor, Reed and the LaForge family."

"You still haven't told us why this all matters," Marty pointed out.

"The book we have sent you will outline a great deal of the older particulars. But do you recall the mentioning of the radiation bands?" Jaresh-Inyo asked rhetorically. "See, Beckett was from the twenty centimeter radiation band universe. He passed that band on, to all of you. The band diluted, of course, as time went on, and more generations intervened. But he came here from another universe. His ability to come here was a rare event, and it was directly related to intervention by the Calafan people. Now, we've had a few crossovers since then, but no one else fell in love, and stayed here, and no one else sired children."

"Wait – he came _here? How?"_ asked Dana.

"Read the book," Admiral Janeway encouraged.

"Our theory," Jaresh-Inyo stated, "is that the radiation band cycling is coming from outside of our universe. But all of you did, too – at least in part. We feel that, if that other universe somehow sends more people through, you might be able to talk to them. They just might listen to you."

"Wait a second," Geordi said, "I'm no diplomat. I don't think anyone here is. I know my father and sister aren't. I barely met the O'Connor and Reed cousins. I don't remember any of them being diplomats, either."

"My mother and my grandfather aren't, either," Tamsin added.

"Yet you expect us to somehow be able to communicate," Lilienne said. She peered into the screen intently. "I suspect you mean for us to somehow negotiate. You're expecting something bad to happen, aren't you?"

"We don't know," Nechayev admitted.

"Are my people in danger?" Picard inquired. "Or are the people of Ceres, or Lafa II, or the crew of the _Talos?"_ He turned to his staff, "I would rather not give up any of you, but if your mere presence is going to imperil anyone else, then I shall be forced to take action."

"Then what?" Dana asked, her voice a little shrill in her distress, "Do we all get separated? Or are we thrown in some ghetto or, or a prison, ostensibly for our own safety, or because we're seen as a danger to others? It's not just unfair; it's unjust!"

Marty looked over at her for a second. "Captain, you can't be serious. Firing us all? At some point, it becomes a question of our rights to employment. Besides, where would we all go? I know Dana here doesn't have a place of her own, and neither do I."

"You can come stay with me, Commander Madden," Tamsin eyed him a bit.

"Great, when do we move in?" Dana asked sarcastically.

Tamsin shot her a look and then noticed Caul glaring at all of them. The head of Section 31 scolded, "This is hardly a laughing matter. We don't honestly know the intentions of the agents behind the radiation band cycling. We have to assume that they are hostile. Furthermore, we don't even know that they would notice or respect your own disparate bands. They might embrace you as kin; try to convert you to fellow travelers; or see you as the biggest threats, and try to kill all of you first."

"How are they accomplishing the band cycling?" Lilienne asked.

Geordi explained, "We think they're using ionization diffusers. They're illegal in the Federation, but other universes of course wouldn't be bound by our rules. Truth is, personally, I think there's more than one. We're getting readings in all sorts of places, and they're not that close to each other."

"It might even be ionization diffusers on both sides," Marty added, "But I seem to be the only person who thinks that."

"No, that could be feasible," Lilienne countered. "See, I grew up in the Lafa System. The Calafans can and do dream of people on another side – they refer to them as the _night people._ They claim they're real. I never believed that, but now I'm not so certain. I don't think my brother Jay believes any of that, either. Understand that we were humans living there, and in a rather small minority."

"Isn't Lafa II a really nice place?" Geordi asked. "So why wouldn't there be a lot of human settlers there? Every Calafan I've ever met has been decent to me. Yi'imspi is one of my night shift engineers; she's a lovely girl."

"The area is rather strategically significant, don't forget, near Romulan, Andorian, and Klingon space," Janeway clarified, "It's seen its share of combat."

Jaresh-Inyo said, "They have democratic government; it's like a constitutional monarchy. I suggest contacting their High Priestess, though, and see what she has to say about the matter. In the meantime, if the Enterprise could begin heading straight to the Lafa System, then that would be of assistance."

"Oh, and Ensign Porter will be transferred from the _Talos_ to the _Enterprise,"_ Nechayev said. She tapped her PADD a bit. "The orders are being sent now."

"Understood," Picard said, as Marty blanched, Dana looked peeved, and Tamsin went back to grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"We will see about contacting the remaining family members," Whatley said, "We will probably need them to go to the Lafa System, too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet."

Jaresh-Inyo added, "That's all for now. This meeting is adjourned."


	4. 4-Variations on a Theme

**Chapter 4 – Variations on a Theme**

As Dana and Marty left the meeting, they both scowled. Geordi and Mike caught up with them. "Who'd've thought we were related!" Geordi opened with. He then paused and peered at them both. "Something wrong?"

"Heh, well, it's Cousin Tamsin," Dana explained, "She's, uh, well, you explain," she said a little pointedly to Marty, walking away quickly.

"What's going on?" Mike asked.

"I'd really rather not give the specifics," Marty told them, "except that Tamsin is, well, she's got it in her head that one quick date meant something. It didn't. Now I'm gonna have to deal with her." He glanced at them. "I'd better go."

As he departed, Mike turned to Geordi. "There's something between them, I'll bet."

"Tamsin Porter and Commander Madden?"

"No, Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie and Commander Madden."

Dana got to her quarters quickly. She was supposed to be going to her shift. But Mike was right; there really had been something.

They had known each other all of their lives, and had always been on the same wavelength, even though Marty was about seven years older than her. With the same initials, they often referred to each other as the _MDM Twins._ The family swore they had a secret language as well.

When Dana had turned eighteen, and Marty was almost twenty-five, they had kissed in private at a family gathering. Holding hands, they went to see her parents, declaring that they would marry. But their hopes were dashed when they were informed of a Federation law prohibiting marriages between two persons with at least one great-grandparent in common, like the two of them had.

Devastated, they had pursued separate studies and careers, mainly staying apart, as it was far too painful to be close by. Dana had been assigned to the _Enterprise-E_ when the First Officer, William Riker, had been given his own command. Marty, being the best-qualified person for the job, had been transferred from the _Talos._

Madden's ascension to the rank of First Officer on the _USS Enterprise_ was a major achievement. It brought nearly as much prestige as having his own command would have.

There had been press articles and a great deal of attention was drawn to the fact that he, in his late fifties, remained an eligible bachelor. The attention annoyed him. In order to squelch the rumors, before he'd officially reported to the _Enterprise_ , he had randomly selected a single woman on the _Talos_ for a date. That woman had turned out to be the far younger Tamsin Porter.

He did not care for her one whit; the date was merely the means to an end. While he was not interested in hurting her, he was also hardly interested in spending more than minimal time with her. They had gone out for sushi on the Kreetassan home world. She had made a rather forward pass at him, and he'd effectively deflected it. The last thing he had wanted was for the press to circulate pictures of her grabbing his thigh and then lunging for more. The date was to show that he was dating and didn't have a heart made of stone. It was not to show him as a slobbering, leering, sex-addled fool.

Disappointed and angry, Tamsin had officially complained of harassment to the captain of the _Talos_. Fortunately, he and Picard had gotten to the bottom of things quickly. Marty's promotion and transfer went ahead, the record was expunged, and Tamsin received a stern warning in her file, about the damage to her career that would ensue if she filed any more false charges, against Martin Madden or anyone else. For a year or so, she'd kept quiet.

When Marty had arrived on the _Enterprise,_ his reputation preceded him, despite the clearing of his record. Still, Picard had welcomed the man warmly, and had refused to believe any rumors. But the rumors persisted, and Marty was mainly a lone wolf on board.

As for Dana, the sudden addition of her unattainable love as a new colleague was a cause for some soul-searching. Both she and Marty did their best to be able to coexist without falling apart. They spent a great deal of time together, but she had done her best to cocoon her heart. She had even gotten herself a boyfriend, the head of the MACO unit on Andoria, a divorced fellow named Emmet Kent Hoberman.

In her quarters, her desktop unit was flashing, signifying a message. She could have left it or read it on her PADD. Instead, something possessed her to not delay, and she read it on her desktop unit. It was from Kent.

 _Dana,_

 _We need to talk tonight. Something's come up._

 _–_ _Kent_

"I wonder what that's all about," she muttered to herself, before sending a quick acknowledging reply. She returned to the Bridge.

=/\=

In Engineering, Geordi and B-4 met with Rick. "Anything happen while we were out?" Geordi asked.

"Oh, we were all assimilated by the Borg," Rick joked, "but they threw us all back, something about the crew of the _Enterprise-E_ being out of season."

The android was a little puzzled. "The presence of the Borg should have registered on scanners. I will perform a full diagnostic."

"Uh, no, B-4," Geordi chuckled a little, "that won't be necessary. It's just a little joke."

"Oh," B-4 responded, "I am in error, then." He retrieved a device with a wand. "Might I ask you for a moment, for a quick scan?" he asked Rick.

"Uh, sure," Rick replied, eying the device a bit, "what does that thing do?"

"Just a quick check," Geordi replied, "it's a new medical scanner we're working on. We're testing it out for Doctor Crusher."

"Ah, I see," said Rick, but he knew that what Geordi had said was an utter fabrication. The device had no medical applications whatsoever. Rather, instead, it was a radiation band tester. He held out an arm. "This good?"

Geordi answered, "Sure, just a second." He nodded at B-4, and the android began the rapid scan. Geordi glanced over at the readout on the monitor. It said _20.4275300 centimeters,_ a figure that was lower than any of the others they had read. "Huh, I wonder if this thing is working properly."

B-4 also looked. "The figure is rather striking. This time, I really will perform a full diagnostic."

"Should I report to Sick Bay?" Rick asked, pretending to be alarmed. He was the only one of the three of them who knew that the device was working perfectly. It was in a museum in his time period, and he had even used it prior to going on this particular temporal mission.

"Uh, maybe hold off for now," Geordi tried to assure him, "it's probably just our equipment." He ran the wand over himself, and the finding was the same as it had been the last time he'd scanned himself with it – _20.9999946 centimeters_. "That's funny."

"Really, should I go to Sick Bay?"

"Uh, just a second," Geordi requested. He tapped out a fast note on his PADD, to the captain.

 _Sir,_

 _We just scanned Richard Daniels with the radiation band tester, and you're not going to believe this._

=/\=

On the Bridge, Dana glanced over from the Tactical station as Marty, Picard, and M'Belle sat up front. There was a communications chime. Picard checked his PADD and looked at it in some surprise. "How very curious. Mister Madden, you and I need to head to Engineering right away. MacKenzie, you have command."

"Aye, sir."

"What's the trouble?" asked M'Belle, the Caitian counselor rolling her R a little.

"A bit of additional business," Picard replied cryptically.

Marty nodded at Dana slightly. It was an unspoken message – _I'll tell you later, if I can._

Dana settled into the captain's chair. "Continue to the Lafa System, Mister Crusher," she commanded, as Marty and Picard left.

"Aye."

=/\=

In Engineering, Picard looked over the findings. "Mister Daniels," he finally said, "I need for you to accompany Mister Madden and me, to the Observation Lounge."

Rick glanced back at Geordi. "You need me?"

"Nope; go ahead."

"Okay." He turned to follow Picard and Madden to the Observation Lounge.

Picard thought for a moment. "Lieutenant Commander LaForge, B-4, on second thought, you should accompany us." Rick raised an eyebrow slightly as the captain engaged the communicator pinned to his uniform top. "MacKenzie?"

"Aye, sir."

"I need for you to give command to Counselor M'Belle and bring Lieutenant Commander Daniels with you. Meet us in the Observation Lounge."

"Right away, sir. MacKenzie out."

The five of them made their way to the Observation Lounge. Dana and Mike were already there when they arrived. After the others had filed in, Picard made certain to lock the door. "This meeting is hereby declared to be highly confidential."

"Understood," Marty spoke for all of them, and sat down next to Dana.

"As most of you know, there are thirteen persons with a radiation band of less than 21 centimeters. Four are in this room." They all nodded, so he continued. "The number of elapsed generations since the transuniversal crossover by Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett makes it so that all disparate radiation bands are greater than 20.9. Except for one."

"Oh?" asked Dana.

"There is a fourteenth person," Picard announced. "That person represents a fifth such instance on the _Enterprise._ That person is you, Crewman Daniels." Rick Daniels sat there stoically and said nothing. "You are clearly not appreciably older than anyone in this room. In fact, aside from B-4, I suspect you're the youngest person in this room. Therefore, if the generations are not hopelessly skewed, and your band is less than every other unknown disparate radiation band, how, may I ask, do you do it?"

"Do what, sir?" Rick asked.

"Account for the obvious mathematical impossibility in your radiation band," the captain clarified.

They all turned and looked at Rick. "This variation is new," he muttered.

"Variation?" asked Geordi, who was sitting closest to him.

"The Prime Directive," Rick began, "prevents more technologically advanced species from interfering with normal planetary and species development. I know everyone here can appreciate what that means when you're confronted with a pre-industrial civilization."

"Well, sure," Mike commented.

"You're pretty much always on the more advanced end of things," Rick stated, "but in this case, it's the opposite."

"Are you human?" Marty asked.

"More or less. But I want everyone here to appreciate that there are a lot of things I'm not supposed to talk about. The problem is," he sighed, "whenever I follow all the protocols and do that, it doesn't work. When I throw caution to the wind, it doesn't work, either. Frankly, I'm not so sure what to do anymore."

"I'm lost," Dana admitted, "so cut to the chase, okay?"

"Assertive in any iteration," Rick commented.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Perhaps you should start at the very beginning," Picard suggested.

"Right, that," Rick said. He steeled himself for what he was about to tell them. "In my time period, the Prime Directive isn't just confined to currently primitive species and planets. It's also temporal, and it applies to more primitive time periods as well."

"So you're a time traveler," Marty concluded. He looked at Rick. "The captain here said he thought you were the youngest person in the room. Just how right is he?"

"Using the old style calendar, I was born on February third of 3069."

"A little over seven hundred years from now, and just past your birthday, eh?" Dana commented. The true date was on her PADD – _February 12_ _th_ _of 2380._ "I'm guessing we look like cave people to you; assuming anything you're telling us is at all true."

"Not cave people," Rick smiled, "you do extremely well."

"If you're not supposed to interfere," Geordi asked, "then why are you here at all? Isn't this interference?"

"Hell," Mike concluded, "wouldn't a trip in time change things by definition? You've probably knocked everything out of kilter just by getting here."

"Not exactly," Rick replied. "See, there are three kinds of changes. It's not possible for us mere mortals to effectuate the really big ones. And the smallest ones don't matter. It's only the in between stuff that's at issue."

"When does small turn into in between?" Dana inquired.

"Otra," the unfamiliar name rhymed with _Sinatra_ , "she says, uh, no one is really sure. In some ways, you'll just know it when and if you see it."

"Well, that's pretty useless," Dana commented.

"You're a lot more skeptical in this variation," Rick said.

"That's the second time you've mentioned a variation," Picard pointed out. "Care to explain what you mean by that?"

"This is not the first time I've been here," Rick admitted. "Look, I've said too much already. You've got problems and I suspect I need your help in solving them."

"What sorts of problems?" Picard asked.

"The timeline's all messed up," Rick said.

"Why should any of us believe you?" Marty asked. "For all we know, you're the one causing the issues."

"The radiation band cycling, yes, I know all about that," Rick said, "I also know it's confidential, and I know why you're all here. You're all family, except for the captain."

"We still don't know if you're the one who's causing it, or if you're anything that you claim to be," Mike pointed out. "We've dealt with shape shifters before."

"And with Q," Picard added.

"Oh, man, I'm neither," Rick said. "I'm just a guy trying to fix stuff."

"Maybe not just a guy," Dana mused. "Look, you said there were changes. So, what were they? And keep in mind there's every possibility that nobody here will believe you."

"Too true," Rick agreed. "I am also well aware that you have nothing to gauge my statements with."

"There are no before and after pictures or anything like that," Geordi said.

"Precisely," the captain concurred. "Tell us, Crewman, how you are able to determine whether an alteration has been made? Wouldn't any such differences, by definition, be utterly undetectable?"

"We have a file," Rick explained. "The Master Time File includes all major historical events and a lot of smaller ones as well."

"How could you possibly have a record of everything?" Marty asked.

"It's not everything; it can't be," Rick clarified. "We do our best to keep the most important data in it. But I'll be the first to admit that it's imperfect."

"So you know the Titan Bluebirds' record for this year, but not the scores of the games?" asked Dana.

"It's a bit more granular than that. We don't know pitch counts, we don't know how many times a batter fouled."

"So it's box score level, but not scorecard level?" she asked.

"Something like that." Rick looked at them all. "For most of you in this room, there are no changes at all. Captain, who has command of the _Enterprise_ right now?"

"Counselor M'Belle," Picard replied.

"Ah yes, that variation," Rick mused. "She isn't supposed to be here. Neither is the case with maybe half of your night shift enlisted Bridge crew."

"Who's the counselor, if M'Belle or Shaw aren't?" Marty asked.

"Nobody is," Rick said. "The job's still supposed to be open. Guinan in Ten Forward and Doctor Crusher fill in as well as they can." He turned to Mike. "What's your job on the _Enterprise_?"

"I'm the night shift Tactical Officer."

Rick shook his head. "You're supposed to be the day shift Tactical Officer. Who's the day shift pilot?"

"Wes Crusher," Geordi said.

"Not him, no."

"What's supposed to happen to Wes?" asked Dana.

"Wesley Crusher is another person who isn't supposed to be here. But he and M'Belle, and pretty much all of your incorrectly placed people? They're all supposed to be on the same ship."

"Which ship would that be?" Marty asked.

"The _Cookie_."

Dana started laughing. "What kind of a joker would name their ship the _Cookie_?"

Rick looked straight at her and answered, "You would."


	5. 5-Lucky

**Chapter 5 – Lucky**

When Dana got back to her quarters that evening, the first thing she did was engage the communicator pin on her uniform top and sit down at her desk. "I want to speak to Major Kent Hoberman of the MACOs, on Andoria. Patch in the visual to my desktop, thanks."

The connection was made quickly. "Kent, what's up? You said it was, well, I mean, you implied that it was important."

"Yeah." Kent was a well-built MACO commanding officer in his late thirties. He paused. "I wish I could tell you this in person. You deserve that much, Dana."

"What? What the hell is going on?"

He steeled himself for the response. "My wife wants me to come back. She wants to try again."

"What are you gonna do?

"I've already done it." He braced himself even more.

Dana just stared for a second, and then her temper got the better of her. "How long ago was this?"

"Two weeks, I swear." Kent cringed.

"So when we talked the other day, and you didn't tell me, Kent, what the hell was that all about?"

"I, I'm sorry, Dana. I was a little overwhelmed by it all, by, by Sandy and I was gonna see Nichole and Katie full-time, and we were – uh, are – gonna become a family again. I didn't know what to tell you or, or how. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, me, too. Don't bother calling back."

"Dana!"

"Computer, end transmission." Once the connection had been cut, she added, "Block any and all communications from Emmet Kent Hoberman or anyone who reports directly to him."

 _Confirmed._

She sat there at her desk, arms folded. "How dare you," she said quietly. Her door chimed, and she jumped. "Oh, man, uh, come in, I guess."

"You guess?" It was Rick.

"Yeah, um, are you lost?"

"Heh, no," he chuckled. "I'm just trying to fix things."

"Well, now is not a good time."

"Oh?"

"Private stuff."

"Oh, sorry. Look, we've been able to work together pretty well in every iteration, and in every variation. But we do have to shake a leg."

"Why? You're a freaking time traveler, right? So can't you just come and go whenever? Um, you can, can't you?"

"I can. But, you see, there are trillions of other variables. And one of them is the cooperation of the people on board. If I arrive too early, then things don't work out quite so well. Nobody believes me if you haven't already had the meeting about your radiation band heritage."

"I see."

"The other half is the cycling. See, it hits my instruments, too. That's a big part of why I'm even here in the first place. I need people like you to help me."

"And do what?"

"Find and stop whoever's doing the band cycling. See, the displacement, it has something to do with you, and your ship. I mean the one in the correct iteration. And it has to do with your crew, too. A bunch of them ended up here. They don't belong on board, either, Mack."

"What did you just call me?"

"Oh, that's right; I had forgotten. In the original history, you go as Mack MacKenzie."

Dana chuckled a little at that. "Do I ever call myself Misty? You know; my real first name?"

"Not in any of the times I've tried this, not in any of the variations, no."

Dana got up. "Wait, how many variations have you gone through?"

"Twelve."

"So this is lucky number thirteen?"

Rick smiled a little at that. "It is. I, uh, you told me it wasn't a good time, and I respect that, but I am hoping you'll work with me, Dana."

She bit her lip for just a second. "Uh, yeah, sure. What the hell."

=/\=

In his quarters, Martin Madden looked over duty rosters and reports. There was a communications chime. He hit the communicator pin on his uniform top. "Madden here."

"You know this is going to be fun." The voice was young, feminine, and playful.

"Whaddaya want, Tamsin?"

"For your information, I'm supposed to be reporting to you for my transfer. _Personally_ reporting, if you get my drift. And, of course, if you're going to be difficult or mean or negligent or otherwise unprofessional, Martin, well, I'm certain the Federation flag officers would just love to hear from me."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, come, come now, Martin! I'm supposed to be working in Tactical. You know, under you." She giggled.

"Heh, actually, that means you'll be under MacKenzie."

"That cow? I don't swing that way, Martin."

"I'm sure Dana doesn't, either."

"Really? Well, now, I'm thinking that you two second cousins are just a bit too, heh, intimately involved in each other's lives." Tamsin paused, and then played her trump card. "Of course a charge of incest would tank any oh so promising career."

"Just get your stuff and beam over," he snapped. "You've already got one false accusation under your belt. Get another one, and you'll be forced to leave Starfleet, no matter what the hell your damned radiation band is."

"Don't forget – no matter what happens," Tamsin chuckled menacingly, "you need me. I'll be living on your deck, right?"

"Nope. Rank hath its privileges. I couldn't put you here, even if I wanted to. Arrange all further transfer issues through our ship's main counselor, M'Belle. I got better things to do with my time. And I bet she does, too, so don't be your usual whiny, princess-y self. Madden out." He whacked his hand against the console, to get it to go off and break the connection as fast as possible. It stung, and he waved and shook his hand a few times.

There was a nearly immediate communications chime. "Now, what?" he groused as he answered it.

"Marty, it's me."

"Oh, thank God, Mystic. I'm sorry. She just, man, she just infuriates me."

"Who does?"

"Who else? Cousin Tamsin Porter. You, uh, what can I do for you?"

"Can I come over, and talk a little? I haven't been having the greatest of evenings, either."

The thought of what an accusation or intimation of incest could do to his career crossed Marty's mind for the briefest of instances, and then he banished it. "Of course. We'll compare notes and commiserate, all right? "

"Thanks; you're the best, Marty. I'll be right there." She cut the connection.

Marty performed one small bit of straightening up in anticipation of her arrival, and removed his communicator pin and then threw his uniform top into the laundering unit. This left him in regulation uniform trousers and a black tee shirt that helped to show off a muscular physique. He took off his shoes and neatly put them away on the floor of his closet.

It was the only thing he had time for, as Dana only lived several doors down, but on the same deck. The door chimed, and he opened it to find her in workout gear, gray sweats and a turquoise and gray top with the _New England Red Sox_ logo on it. "Got room for another one in there?" she joked.

"Any time, for you." He made sure the door was shut and then motioned for her to sit down. She took a seat on the edge of his bed. "Well?" he asked, sitting in his desk chair.

"Kent broke up with me."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. I mean, it kinda isn't, but, well, his wife took him back and he's all eager to be a full-time dad."

"Got it. But you, Mystic, how are you feeling about all that?"

"I was kinda mad at first. I mean, he knew about it for two weeks! I get the feeling he was trying to play both sides up the middle, and see if he could keep both of us."

"Really?"

"I'm being unfair," she admitted after a while. "I don't really have all the facts, except that he knew about it. He didn't spell it out, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say Sandy pushed him to do it."

"Sandy?"

"The ex who is no longer an ex – I guess she's got him by the short hairs."

"Well, I imagine her first condition would be for him to drop any girlfriend he had. Heh, I had been wondering if I should meet the guy. I won't need to, now."

"No, you won't. Marty, even if this hadn't happened, he, well, he was okay. But he was never the one or anything like that. He could never hold a candle."

They were both quiet for a few moments. "That's the way I've thought of every woman, Mystic. All of them. They can't compete, not ever." He got up from the desk chair and approached her. "She threatened me, Mystic."

"Who did?"

"Tamsin. She said she'd tell the flag officers that we were in an incestuous relationship."

"Great; that's just what everybody needs. And she's in Tactical, too, right? So I'm her new boss. I should fob her off on Mike. I could say, as a relative, that I've got a conflict of interest."

"He'd likely have the same conflict, Mystic."

"Yeah; you're probably right. I talked to Rick Daniels before I contacted you tonight."

"Oh? What did he say?'

"He said," She recounted, "that this was his thirteenth time trying this. He also said he and I've always worked well together. Marty, I think he was hitting on me a little."

"How do you feel about that? You just got outta the whole Kent situation."

"I know. It's a rebound and all of that. But I get the feeling Rick won't be around for long. And the whole Kent thing? With all the long distance, the last time I saw him was almost a year ago. Maybe a fling would do me some good. I don't know."

"I, uh," Marty considered his words carefully. "I can't say that I wouldn't be dismayed. But I shouldn't let it eat at me or stop you. I mean, after all, you are completely off the table for me. It's how I got into the Tamsin mess to begin with. So, Mystic," he looked her in the eye, "don't let him stalk you."

"Of course not. Heh, I hope I'm not a direct ancestor."

"You would have to have a kid. Something you're not telling me?" he looked at her slyly and smiled a crooked half-smile at her.

She laughed at that. "I've been celibate for quite a while; too much long distance with Kent. If I'm pregnant, it's a pretty nifty miracle."

"You could start the First Church of Mystic."

"Oh man; it would be the church of, I dunno, people who are, apparently – at least according to Rick Daniels – kinda outta place."

"You are not out of place. And hell, I'll be your High Priest."

She laughed again, but this time it was more of a nervous titter. "Every time we talk, Marty – and I mean when we _**really**_ talk, that is," her tone had turned utterly serious, "every single, every single time, I get all messed up."

"Oh, c'mon, Mystic. I don't mean anything bad by it."

"I know you don't, Marty. I just, eh, I wish things were different. See, Rick said this was the 13th iteration he'd been to. I asked him if I ever called myself Misty in any of them."

"Do you?"

"I don't, apparently. But Marty, what I should have asked him is if we are ever together. It would be a little bit comforting, I think, if there was some version out there, some like a, a quantum nugget, I guess, where the planets align and you and I are together and it's forever and we're married and all of that. I want there to be at least a, a nugget of perfection, a nugget of happiness."

He got down on the floor, on his knees, in front of her, hearing his knees crack a bit as he did so. "In this nugget," he said softly, we have a kid or two, right? And we live somewhere great, in the kind of ancient Victorian house you've always loved."

"New England, maybe, or maybe some place like New Orleans – wouldn't that be a kick? Our kids – wow – Chloe and Steven."

"Or Pete and Catherine, I dunno." He took her hands and looked her in the eye, smiling. "Our dreams."

She chewed on her lower lip. "But they can't ever come true." She started to get up, and then he did so, too, but he didn't drop her hands. "I wanna stay so badly. But we both know I can't." She turned toward the door.

"Wait, Mystic. I have something for you."

"What?"

"I do. See, I read a chunk of the book. And I learned that this thing I was given to me by my dad. It turns out that it was an artifact from Lili O'Day. She got it from a MACO who was killed – Jay Hayes. Turns out he was our radiation band's counterpart, our version, if you will, of Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett."

"Our common ancestor – you, me, Tamsin, and Geordi and the others."

"Exactly." Marty rummaged around in his nightstand until he found the article. "Here." He placed a small metallic disc into her outstretched palm.

"A nickel," she said, "minted in, it looks like it says 2012. It's an antique. Was 2012 somehow important?"

"It wasn't, so far as I can tell. Maybe it was lucky."

"The family lucky nickel – and you want me to have it, Marty?"

"Yes, I do." He cupped his hand around hers, pushing her fingers closed around it to safeguard it. "It's the best I can do for you. I only wish it was a trillion or more times more."

She clutched it, still with his hand around hers, to her heart. "It already is."


	6. 6-Iterations

**Chapter 6 – Iterations**

The head of Section 31, Admiral Harriet Caul, stared at the PADD in front of her. "A time traveler, eh? Well, that throws a spanner in the works." She peered at the device more closely. "So if this is – allegedly – the wrong iteration, then there's got to be some major interference that made our timeline just jump the track like this. And whatever it is, I'd say it's got what to do with that radiation band cycling."

She clicked around on her desktop unit, engaging communications. "Full encryption, through the maximum number of layers."

 _Working._

"There seems to be a temporal dislocation here, on our side of the proverbial pond. It might or might not be affecting your mission. As for the deposed emperor, I suspect his activities aren't helping matters any. So kindly get him to cease and desist, at least for the time being, until this is worked out. The _Enterprise-E_ is going to one of the systems on our side that's affected. I would rather that they didn't get a visit from the twenty centimeter radiation band, the so-called Mirror Universe, just yet. You'll have to assure the restoration in some other way. Send back the usual acknowledgements through the usual encrypted and diverted channels. End transmission."

She shook her head. "I knew there'd be problems with this," she said to no one. "But a temporal dislocation? That is assuming Richard Daniels is telling anything at all near the truth. It's certainly the most reasonable explanation for his radiation band. And I would know about it, if there had been any other crossovers, in either direction."

=/\=

On Lafa II, in the Mirror Universe, Admiral Carmen Calavicci made her deliveries and was unmolested. She stopped at a large outdoor market. "I beg your pardon," she said to a large copper-colored Calafan fellow who was sitting near the entrance and whittling something or other. "Are there any of the homeless, you know, the stateless among us, who come through here, ever?"

"Stateless?" he asked, stopping what he was doing. His almost Irish-sounding brogue was a sure sign of an origin on Lafa V. He then flicked his finger at her, twice, which was a kind of silent catcall.

"Yes, well," Carmen fought to not become flustered or irritated by the man's less than fully welcome attentions. "I've often wondered about such things, seeing as I'm a bit stateless myself."

"Do you need a home? I could have my wife move over in our bed," he joked.

"No, thanks. All I want to know is if you've seen any bloody hu – I mean, Terrans, any stateless or impoverished Terrans?"

"A few. They come when the market is closing up for the day. We give away the last of the food so that we don't have to pack it up."

"Is one of them a middle-aged, dark-haired chap? His eyebrows might angle just a touch, as he has a smidge of Vulcan in him."

"A picture would be helpful."

Carmen had a 31st century PADD that had been camouflaged to resemble the technology of the time period. She pulled it out and clicked around until she found what she was looking for – an image of Charles Tucker XI, who had been known as Charles VI, the Emperor of Terra and its many conquests and provinces. "Here." It was an image of Charles during better days.

"The Terran Emperor!" The Calafan erupted in a deep belly laugh. "If he's here, then he's got a substantial price on his head. Tell me, have you an inkling as to where he might be? I'd love to put a new extension on my home with the reward money."

"It was just a shot in the dark. Oh, look at the time!" She feigned glancing at a wall display behind the man's head. "I've got deliveries to make. Ta."

Once she was in her vehicle – the Calafans still had some delivery vans – she said aloud to no one, "After hours, eh? You might not be coming here yourself, Eleven, but I'll wager you've got someone else who does. As they say, I shall return."

=/\=

Caul picked up a message in her office. "How very interesting." It said –

 _There seems to be strain here between Madden and Porter. It threatens to interfere with their cooperation._

 _As for my other task, I can report that the Emperor in exile is in a secure location. He has hired Porter's Mirror counterpart to handle all mundane tasks so he can remain hidden. Tamsin Jennifer Porter goes by Jennifer or Jenn on that side, and seems to believe that she will become the Empress once the interregnum is concluded. Charles XI has elected not to disabuse her of this notion, at least not as of yet._

Caul tapped out a secured response for an encrypted transmission. It said –

 _Determine whether Daniels has a counterpart or another temporal operative working on the other side of the pond. We cannot allow them to interfere with our mission, to force an early end to the Mirror Universe interregnum and thereby eviscerate the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance._

 _Report all progress, positive or negative, at once._

Satisfied with the message, she sent it. Then she commanded, "Computer, get me all information that we have on time travel."

=/\=

Richard Daniels was back on his ship, as it was nighttime again. "Computer," he commanded, "give me whatever's in the Master Time File about the Section's investigations into pulse shots, ionization diffusers, and radiation band cycling."

After a few moments, the ship's computer responded –

 _Ready._

"In the original history, what did the Section know about ionization diffusers, and when did they know it?"

 _In the original history, Section 31 conducted some unsuccessful experiments with ionization diffuser technologies and cloaking technologies. These failures were covered up, as Section 31 was in breach of the Treaty of Algeron and this activity threatened relations between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. In 2379, Section 31 learned of the existence of the Cookie and its late inventor, the Gorn, Szish. An operative was hired to pose as an athlete and get onto Dana MacKenzie's team. The operative's chief purpose was to observe and investigate the ionization diffuser and send data and images to Admiral Harriet Caul, the head of the Section at that time. The intention was to attempt to reverse engineer the device but not reveal any intent to circumvent the treaty._

"Right, yeah; what about pulse shots?"

 _The existence and use of pulse shots was not known during this time in history, except as engineering trivia. It was felt, at the time, that pulse shots were merely evidence of improperly aligned pulse cannons, and nothing more. When pulse cannons were eventually replaced by phasers and photon torpedoes, the means of creating and sustaining pulse shots was mainly lost. A pulse shot's ability to create a transuniversal rift was only known to a few. For transuniversal hybrid engineer Geordi LaForge, the aftermath from a pulse shot was only known to have been a means of interphasing in time. LaForge did not at that time understand the universe-crossing application of pulse shots. This engineer's understanding of that secondary application was attained, according to records, at the time that the radiation band cycling issues were encountered by the_ _ **Enterprise-E.**_

"Speaking of that," Rick commanded, "tell me about Section 31 and radiation band cycling."

 _As a part of investigating transuniversal crossovers and time travel, and as a hoped-for means of controlling both, Section 31 began to experiment with chi spectrum radiation. When combined with a modified pulse cannon, a chi radiation pulse shot was thereby created. Such a hybrid expulsion of energy opened a portal to the Mirror Universe and to other radiation bands as well, in a random fashion. When the application was discovered, these experiments were discontinued in the 21 centimeter radiation band universe. However, in the 20 centimeter band radiation universe, colloquially known as the Mirror Universe, the result was replicated, and a regular cycle of chi radiation was pumped out of a modified pulse cannon._

"Where did this happen?"

 _On Lafa II, near Point Abic._

"Who did this? And why?"

 _The Mirror Universe inventor of radiation band cycling was one Tamsin Jennifer Porter, known as Jenn or Jennifer in that universe. Porter's motivation was evidently a desire to minimize the interregnum and speed up the restoration of the Emperor Charles VI to the Mirror Universe's Terran Empire throne._

"What's in it for Tamsin? I mean, Jennifer?"

 _That specific information is not available in the Master Time File._

"Okay, got it. But she's not doing this for her health, I'll bet. Maybe Tamsin – eh, Jenn – maybe she thinks she'll be the next Empress? It's not like Charlie Eleven's got any prospects. He's not situated like Charlie X and the others were." Rick thought for a moment. "I'd better contact Carmen. This is gonna be tricky. Heh, I don't normally suggest to my own boss that she seduce anyone. She is so not gonna like the idea of that. Computer?"

 _Working._

"How is it possible for Tamsin Jennifer Porter to have a counterpart? Doug Hayes didn't have any kids in the Mirror. Or did he?"

 _That question will now be investigated. Genetics and family tree records will be compared. It is estimated that this investigation will take several hours and will be run in the background._

"Okay. In the meantime, I gotta figure the Mirror Universe Tamsin Porter isn't a perfect match. After all, Hayes and Madden weren't on the _ISS Defiant_ at the same time, and O'Day died young. But that's the original MU history. Damn, if Porter is a Hayes descendant, and she and Charlie Eleven have a kid? We'd be talking genius conquerors. They'd be good at nearly anything they touched, I'll bet." He sighed. "Okay, let's think positively. There are a lotta balls in play right now. Heh, play. Dana MacKenzie could sure help with that. Computer?"

 _Ready._

"Compare iterations of Dana MacKenzie. Include not only the original and current versions, but the other twelve this agent has, heh, encountered."

 _In the twelve alternate iterations this agent has experienced so far, the following observations have been made of Dana MacKenzie:_

· _Eight such iterations appeared to be clinically depressed, whereas three were righteously angry. The eleventh iteration was not observed long enough to determine which emotional state was predominant_

· _In six of the iterations, MacKenzie was in a relationship with MACO Major Emmett Kent Hoberman. In four such instances, Hoberman was stationed on Keto-Enol. In the remaining two, Hoberman was stationed on Andoria, as in the original history. Twice, the relationship was that of an engagement; for both such variants, Major Hoberman was stationed on Keto-Enol._

· _For the other six iterations, MacKenzie was in a relationship with Security Crewman Darren Shaw. Shaw was stationed on the_ _ **Enterprise-E,**_ _whereas in the original history, Shaw was a member of MacKenzie's Black Sheep sports team. In the current iteration, Shaw is a ship's counselor, covering the night shift._

· _For all twelve iterations, MacKenzie was in a close relationship with her half-second cousin, Martin Douglas Madden. The Madden-MacKenzie relationship was considered to be a threat in one iteration, and the MacKenzie-Hoberman engagement was broken as a direct result of such threats._

· _In four iterations – two while in a non-affianced relationship with Hoberman, once while engaged to Hoberman (the same instance as when the engagement was broken due to Hoberman jealousy regarding Madden), and once while in a casual relationship with Shaw, MacKenzie took part in a brief fling with Temporal Agent Richard Daniels._

"Yeah, heh." Rick smiled to himself. "You're some piece of work, Dana. I can tell you're unhappy here."

=/\=

In Martin Madden's quarters, he tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep. He finally engaged his communicator. "Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie – get me her voice mail, please."

"Marty?" Dana answered, a little groggily.

"Oh, Mystic, I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry."

"That's okay." She yawned. "What's up?"

"I just – all I can think of is this alternate timeline that we're supposed to be living in. Do you think Rick Daniels is telling the whole truth about it?"

"I, I just don't know, Straight Arrow."

"Then there are the other universes, and our family tree. Mystic, our lives are upside-down."

"It's funny," she said, now fully awake. "See, I have times where I just feel like I don't, I don't belong. Every now and then, I want to just chuck it all and play baseball. I guess maybe I did, in some other timeline."

"Or maybe it was in some other universe. You think the varying universes are just alternate timelines?"

"I dunno, Marty. All I know for certain is that a timeline isn't right unless we're together."

They were both quiet for a moment. "I feel the same way, Mystic."

"Daniels keeps talking about the main timeline, but I just, well, Marty, should we be buying what it is he's trying to sell us?"

=/\=

Rick lay down but he couldn't sleep, either. "I gotta contact Carmen and this is the only way. Computer?"

 _Ready._

"Is it possible that any part of this temporal dislocation is due to the temporal cold war that was waged by the Suliban?" There was a pause as the ship's computer checked its records.

 _The Suliban as a race are no longer waging the temporal cold war. However, the operative colloquially known as 'Future Guy' has not yet been vanquished. It is possible that he is behind at least some of these issues._

"Give me all available information on Future Guy."

 _There is speculation that this operative is at least part-human or part-Terran, due to his fascination with the 21 centimeter radiation band universe's history of Earth. Others speculate that this so-called Future Guy is all or part-Romulan, as there is also an interest in Romulan and Reman affairs, particularly in the Nero-led alternative timeline._

"What's the most reasonable explanation for both of these ideas?" The computer weighed the evidence before it responded.

 _The probability is at 92% that this so-called Future Guy is two persons._

"Well, I'll be damned."


	7. 7-They Can't Be Choosers

**Chapter 7 – They Can't Be Choosers**

On Lafa II, where the time zone was four hours ahead of the time on the _Enterprise-E_ , Carmen determined that it was probably closing time at the big Calafan market. She wasn't allowed to drive her delivery van after hours, so she took a government-issued public transport. It was slow, and it was standing room only, but at least no one bothered her.

Then it was a walk to the market in a darkened alley, but at least she was in good physical condition – far better than a lot of the poorer denizens of the Mirror Universe. She passed by small families begging, or even offering up their frighteningly young daughters for the sex trade. A slight tug on a sleeve revealed the presence of pickpockets. Carmen wheeled around and, without thinking or looking, quickly slapped at the would-be thief, and she was able to retain her 32nd-century PADD.

Then she realized she'd hauled off and slapped a boy of perhaps seven years of age. The child started to cry, and Carmen could see there was an adult male nearby – possibly the child's father. Or pimp. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "But you shouldn't be stealing."

"He'll hit me," the child explained between sobs.

Carmen was torn for a second. There was every possibility that it was all a fake, and that the child was fine. If she put a hand in a pocket and gave him a coin, there could very well be someone along to pick that pocket, or threaten her with a weapon. As a deep future time traveler, Carmen had stem cell growth accelerator flowing in her veins. A stab or a shot would heal up quickly and with no medical care, but it would not be good to have any witnesses to her artificially rapid healing miracle. Plus, it would hurt like a mother, with all of the pain telescoped into a fraction of the time.

Carmen had the remains of an energy bar in one pocket, and gave it to the little boy, who grabbed at it greedily and began to eat, without waiting or thanking her. "Here, and you can get more from the leavings at the market. But I'm going there, too. I don't have anything else. Hear that?" she raised her voice. "I'm broke. Go pick another's pocket. I've got nothing else." Of course she didn't reveal the existence of her advanced PADD.

She jogged away from there as quickly as she could, to get to the market. The same man was at the front, still whittling. He didn't seem to remember her. He bellowed, "We've got leftover tofflin juice and linfep fat, and a few olowa fruit that haven't turned yet. There are some leavings of elekai meat, and that's about it. I'm fresh out of perrazin and prako. Now don't shove! Line up!"

People grumbled as they lined up. Carmen noticed a Terran woman in the group. The woman was young and slight, probably in her twenties or so, with medium-shade brown hair and matching eyes with a vacant stare.

It would have been risky for Carmen to consult her PADD, as there were too many potential thieves about. Even having it take pictures would be a huge gamble. Carmen scanned around. She had enhanced vision and memory, but she couldn't remember something she'd never learned in the first place, so she didn't know who was in cahoots with Charlie Eleven. Carmen hung back, to see what would happen.

The vacant-eyed girl got to the front of the line. The big Calafan fellow barked, "Name!"

"Jenn Porter," the girl mumbled. Fortunately for Carmen, her hearing was also advanced – another enhancement designed to assist with time travel.

"How many are you picking up for?" asked the Calafan.

"Two," Jennifer replied.

"Show both ID cards."

Jennifer dutifully produced her card. "There."

"I need to see the other one," said the guy.

"This is all I've got."

"I can't give you a second full set of rations without a second card," he explained. "But I can give you emergency fare. You are obligated to get your friend an ID card now. If you don't get one within a week, I can't give you anymore emergency rations, and you will be considered to be a welfare cheat and will be subject to arrest. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

"Yeah," Jenn muttered, peeved.

He handed her a large bag and a smaller bag – probably the added emergency rations. "Next!"

Carmen watched as Jennifer began to walk away, and hurried to follow her. Begging children put their hands out and cursed her, demanding the extra food, but Jenn didn't take pity on any of them. Once they were past the alley, Jenn turned. "Whoever the hell you are," she snarled at Carmen, "get off my back."

"I can help you out," Carmen offered.

"Yeah, right."

"You need to present a second identification card, am I right?" Jennifer nodded, so Carmen continued, "But, I suppose, you have a friend in trouble with the law, someone who might be a little, I don't know, shy about going to the authorities and getting an ID card for welfare?"

"Not exactly."

"Perhaps this person," Carmen came closer, "is unused to taking charity. It can be quite difficult to take if you're used to wealth and power, you know."

In response, Jennifer just fled the scene.

"Pay dirt, perhaps," Carmen whispered to herself as she made her way back to the transport station.

=/\=

Rick was able to settle in for the night by using a calming ritual. "Lucretia Crossman, yeah, you were a fine piece," he murmured to himself as he drifted off.

The ship wasn't synchronized to the Mirror Universe's Lafa II time zone, but that was all right. It didn't matter too much for the kind of contact he was attempting.

 _Instead, he saw a myriad of darkened hallways, and achieved synchronization with Carmen – his intended audience – by selecting what, to him, was the dubiously 'best' such doorway. In the dream, he found Carmen behind a door, pacing. "Car! Take it easy!"_

 _"_ _Easy for you to say. I've got – maybe – a line on Charlie Eleven's helper, but no way to follow or find her."_

 _"_ _You didn't take a picture with your PADD?"_

 _"_ _I didn't want to get mugged, Richard." She sighed. "This is annoyingly complicated."_

 _"_ _Wait; I looked this up. Is the helper's name Porter, by chance?"_

 _"_ _It is indeed. What else do you know?"_

 _"_ _Only what I can conjecture," Rick admitted. "If she's a true counterpart, then we are in some pretty serious ca-a, as Kevin O'Connor would say."_

 _"_ _Heh, our Chief Engineer does have a way with a turn of a phrase. Well, if Porter is a true counterpart, then Douglas Hayes's earlier life devolved somewhat differently than in the original hist'ry. It would mean he'd encountered Lili O'Day's counterpart – Charlotte – whilst he was still in the Mirror."_

 _"_ _But he still came here," Rick pointed out._

 _"_ _Right," Carmen admitted. "I think if he'd had truly significant issues with his wife – with our version of Lili O'Day – then they'd be divorced, or not had their children, or she wouldn't have been with your ancestor Malcolm Reed. But none of that's the case. So we have to operate under the assumption that a true counterpart to Porter would lead all the way back to, what? A counterpart Joss Hayes, er, Beckett?"_

 _"_ _Hayes, I'd guess. But that's impossible, as Joss is Lili's son and Lili's counterpart died young."_

 _"_ _All right, so if Lili's counterpart didn't die young, then this rip in time would go back even further than we'd originally feared," Carmen stated. "What about Dana MacKenzie and Martin Madden on your end of things?"_

 _"_ _She's different this time. Hoberman either isn't dating her, or they broke up. Same with Shaw."_

 _"_ _I'm not talking about that, you lecher! What I mean, Richard, is, well, are they cooperative?"_

 _"_ _They seem to be." Rick paused for a moment. "Carmen, the ship's computer says there might be Temporal Cold War interference this time around."_

 _"_ _Truly?"_

 _"_ _Yes – and that Future Guy might be two people."_

 _"_ _Huh, that's interesting. I wonder what Charlie Eleven's got to do with them."_

 _"_ _I don't know, but I bet the interregnum affects them somehow."_

 _"_ _Right, but the question is which benefits them more – for it to end, and for Charlie Eleven to be restored to power?"_

 _"_ _Or for him to be out of power permanently?"_

=/\=

The Mirror Universe Tamsin Jennifer Porter lived in government housing on Lafa II, not too far from the Dary Woods, but far enough away so that no one would put her together with the deposed Terran Emperor. She looked around her meager, pedestrian surroundings and sniffed haughtily. "I don't deserve this." She put the two bags onto a rough-hewn table, and then peered inside the bigger one first. "Olowa paste, linfep fat, canned elekai meat in broth. And in the emergency rations?" She opened the smaller bag and took a look inside it. "Just linfep meat and tofflin flour. No prako, huh. I deserve prako," she said to no one, referring to an amphibious squid hunted on a planet that, in the prime universe, was called Archer's World. The transportation costs alone made prako a rather expensive delicacy in any universe.

She clicked open her communicator. "Yeah, give me CE Tucker."

After a few minutes, the deposed Terran Emperor answered. "Yes?"

"It's me. I got less than usual. We need to get a fake ID card made for you."

"I can't be seen. You know this."

"It doesn't have to be for long."

"Doesn't matter. I won't do it."

"Look," Jenn pointed out, "I'm under no obligation whatsoever to feed you. In fact, heh, you could stand to lose a few pounds."

"Joke all you like," he snapped, "and you'll see what happens to you once I'm restored, if you keep it up. But in the meantime, you were paid in advance – and rather well, as I recall – to deal with such things. Get a fake made."

"I'll need a picture."

"Well, it can't be of me."

"Don't you have family photos of some sort or another? Just, just pick something old."

She could hear a bit of the sounds of him rummaging around and then there was a chime on her PADD. "There. He was a great uncle, several times over, and was one of the tandem emperors to succeed the great Hoshi."

Porter checked out an image of a decent-looking man of part-Asian descent. "Who was he?"

"The Empress Hoshi Sato's first-born child, Jun Sato."

"Why didn't he have his father's last name?"

"Nobody knows who his father was."

=/\=

 _"_ _So Car, do you think we need to get involved in searching for Lili O'Day's counterpart in the new timeline's records?"_

 _"_ _I don't think so, Richard. If I can get DNA from Porter somehow, then we could prove she's a perfect counterpart – or not. Either way. Even if we end up fully succeeding and collapsing this timeline, it'll be good to know if Szish's pulse shot was powerful enough to do that. Good thing at least your own bloodline remains undamaged."_

 _"_ _Well, Charlie Eleven isn't my descendant."_

 _"_ _Right; we had to sterilize Jun, and stop that temporal paradox in its tracks."_

 _"_ _Yeah; that was the only way our government and the Mirror government would consent to allowing my son to exist at all." Rick sighed a bit._


	8. 8-Reflections

On the _Enterprise-E_ , in the prime universe, Ensign Tamsin J. Porter put away her things and then pulled up the ship's schematics on her desktop unit. "I know where you live," she muttered deviously as she looked at the screen. "You can't hide forever, Martin Madden."

There was a communications chime. "A morning meeting? Be right there."

The meeting consisted of Captain Picard, Commander Madden, Lieutenant Commanders MacKenzie, LaForge and Michael Daniels, and Crewman Richard Daniels, along with Tamsin, who arrived last. She ended up reluctantly taking a seat next to Rick. "As before," Captain Picard explained, "this meeting is strictly confidential. Crewman Daniels?"

"Yes," Rick replied. "I'm starting to piece together what's happened. See, there are temporal factions. They're fighting a kind of cold war. The idea is to shift time so that one species or another gains an advantage."

"Who would gain an advantage from this?" asked Tamsin. Picard glared at her. "Uh, sorry, sir."

"Things are done differently here on the _Enterprise-E_ ," Picard explained. "Crewman, can you outline the differences?"

"Sure. Commander Madden, and Lieutenant Commanders LaForge and Daniels don't seem to have undergone any changes at all, or at least the changes are rather minor ones. Ensign Porter's permanent transfer from the _Talos_ is a change; in the original timeline, she stays there, and there is no transfer."

"So this is an improvement," Tamsin purred, eying Marty. Picard glared at her again. "I'm, sir, I'm used to a more relaxed command style."

"That's a smaller change," Rick clarified. "While the prime timeline's _Enterprise-E_ is well-run, there are a few more relaxed moments than there are here."

"I see," said Picard. "Go on, Crewman." He threw another glance at Tamsin, who stayed quiet.

"The biggest change is in Dana, and the people around her."

"How so?" asked Marty.

Rick looked at Dana. "You didn't go into Starfleet Tactical at all – only peripherally, and it was never any sort of formalized training. You didn't go to the Academy."

"Then what did I do?"

"You played baseball professionally. You were the second baseman, and sometimes the shortstop, for the _Titan Bluebirds_."

"Cellar dwellers?" Dana chuckled a little.

"It wasn't for long."

"Oh, was I injured?"

"No, you were arrested."

"What?" Dana's face betrayed her shock.

"You were framed for a drug deal. And you were in Canamar Prison for nineteen years as the appeals dragged on," Rick explained.

"But I got out at least, right?"

"You did, and you put together a kind of ragtag barnstorming team. You bought a Gorn ship."

"Gorn?" asked Picard.

"It was filled with a lot of interesting tech and unfinished inventions. The tech was interesting to a few outside parties as well."

"Was it our enemies?" asked Mike Daniels.

"It was, but it was also, well, it had to do with investigations that we know Commander Madden and Lieutenant Commander LaForge are doing in this iteration, as well as in the prime timeline."

"Ah," Geordi commented. "Would you happen to know the details behind that?"

"I would," Rick said. "But I am prevented from giving you details about it. Suffice it to say, though, there's a relationship there."

"But how did we – I – get here?" Dana asked.

"An operative – I don't know which faction they were from yet – that operative fired a modified pulse cannon. It was what we call a _pulse shot_. But this one was an imperfect one and so it altered time by ripping the fabric of space-time. See," Rick explained, "it's actually supposed to do that, but the damage was not controlled and it was done to time rather than to space. The aftereffects displaced Dana and her entire team. Many of them ended up here, on the _Enterprise-E_."

"Athletes on my ship?" asked Picard.

"They're not professional athletes in this version of the timeline. It's people like Yi'imspi and night shfit Counselor Darren Shaw. Wesley Crusher, too. The highest-ranking such person is day shift Counselor M'Belle."

"Wait, wait, time out," Dana said, putting her hands in the shape of a capital T.

"I can see your underlying prime timeline personality," Rick commented.

"I guess so. But seriously," Dana pointed out, "you said this, this pulse shot was fired from my ship. Was there an intruder on board, or a visitor?"

"I don't think so."

"So it was an athlete. You've got the names, right?" she asked.

"I do. But there are some, like Crita, who aren't on the _Enterprise-E_ at all."

"Crita? That sounds like a Daranaean name," Mike commented.

"That's very astute of you," Rick praised. "She's a third caster."

"Assuming that we can perform such an investigation," Picard asked, "is it not possible that a guilty party in your so-called prime timeline would be innocent in ours? And vice versa?"

"It's not impossible," Rick allowed.

"So how are you gonna know?" Tamsin asked. Before Picard could say anything, she added, "That's a legit question, right? Am I right?"

"It is," Rick assured her. "But we've got other issues. See, we think you might have a counterpart – you all read the book, right?" There were general murmurs of agreement, so he continued, "As Doug Hayes's descendants, by definition, it's not supposed to be possible for you to have counterparts. He didn't father any kids before he crossed over. But there's now a Tamsin Jennifer Porter on the other side. Either she's a counterpart, and that would mean that the rip goes a lot earlier than we had originally thought, or," Rick's voice trailed off.

"Or?" prompted Geordi.

"Or she's close – maybe collaterally related but not a perfect counterpart. See, you have enough close cousin and sibling births, and enough of the right people from other families add their genes to the line, then you can get someone who effectively mimics a counterpart, but technically isn't one."

"Did Douglas Hayes have a brother?" asked Picard.

"Not in the original history. And Jay, his counterpart here, he had a sister, Laura. But Jay and Laura both died childless. And neither of them took a trip to the other side."

"Maybe it's at the uncle level," Mike suggested.

"My partner is going to try to get DNA – a hair, probably – and will see about performing a test. In the meantime, at the very least, we can make some inquiries. Anyone could be the operative, and they might have been really changed by the rip in time. After all, it's not just Dana and M'Belle who were changed – so were Shaw and Yi'imspi in particular, even more than the others. This is the best we can do, for now."

"For my possible counterpart," Tamsin asked, "What is she doing?"

"She's working to help the deposed Terran Emperor, Charles VI, regain the throne."

"Does she succeed?"

"I can't tell you."

=/\=

In the morning, in a small and messy hut, Charles Tucker the Eleventh, also known as the deposed Terran Emperor Charles VI, looked at his reflection in a small, broken-off piece of a mirror and shaved around and shaped his goatee with a dagger.

Without so much as a knock, the door to the hut flew open, and he cut himself, making a gash on his left cheek. It was Jenn. "Don't you knock?"

"Don't you expect me? Here." She put the smaller bag on the hut's most ostentatious piece of furniture – a rough-hewn wooden table at which there was a pair of chairs with broken backs.

"That's not enough." He dabbed at the cut with a dirty cloth.

"I still need to get you an ID card. I've got a line on a woman who claims to be able to make them."

"Get me an A ration card," he commanded, opening the bag and taking out a small can of elekai meat, which he tossed onto the table. "I want fresh meat every day."

"Do you wanna be caught? 'Sides, anyone with an A or a B ration card wouldn't be taking charity."

"Sheesh, what's a C ration card? Isn't that meat twice a week?"

"Once," she explained, "it's only twice if a hunt's come in recently. That's your own law, y'know. I've only got a D myself."

"Ah, no meat except as charity, right. That's a law I should be changing. I'll rescind it, and restore the old system – A for meat every day, B for three times a week, C for twice, D for once, and E for never without hunting or charity. Or I'll retool it somehow."

"You're hardly in a position to do that," she huffed.

"I will be soon enough."

"What are you working on, where you'll be restored to power?" Despite his filthy appearance, she grabbed at him.

"As much fun as this might be," he said, removing her hand, "you're not on a need to know basis when it comes to that."

"Hey, I'm keeping you alive and undiscovered here."

"And you've been paid for that," he reminded her. "If you're expecting an engraved thank-you note, well, you must remember that expressed gratitude is a sign of weakness – and a recorded expression? Forget about it. Don't go around expecting things like that."

Jenn came closer again, wrinkling her nose a little at his body odor. "I am expecting a certain spot in your court, when you're restored to power."

"Is that so? Well, I'll consider it."

"You need an heir. I can give you one."

"Yes, but you must understand. I may need to take a consort from the native people of this planet if my restoration doesn't go smoothly."

"But they know you'll need an heir. And any Calafan consort can't do that."

"Science bored my forebear, the Great Hoshi. And I'm not much of a fan of it, either. But I bet someone can invent something or other. In the meantime, it's better for me – for both of us – to concentrate on the restoration."

"I'll get you a C ration card; don't you worry."

"Good." He picked up the can of elekai meat again. "This isn't exactly the gourmet fare I'm used to."

"I'll be back soon," she promised, and then left.

Alone, he muttered, "If my first choice fails, then sure, why the hell not? But if I can get a genetic connection to this system, then the Calafans will come into the fold as full members of the Terran Empire. A pity we couldn't make contact last night. But tonight, ah, yes, you and I will make contact, Yi'imspi. And maybe not just of the communications kind."

He grinned as he opened the can with the dagger.


	9. 9-The Expanse

The old Delphic Expanse was still riddled with odd spatial anomalies and the ruined remains of gravimetric spheres. Geordi, Marty, Mike, and the android B-4 set up a series of automatic scans.

"What are we expecting to find?" asked Mike.

"I have no idea," Geordi admitted. "But we've got the pinging, we've got the firing of a pulse shot on that Gorn ship, and upheaval in the Terran Empire, and – maybe – something going on with some sort of a temporal cold war."

"Plus Augments, possibly," Marty added, "as if all of that wasn't enough. I like the idea in theory, but I'm not really looking forward to meeting any of them. Everything I've read about them says they're nothing but trouble."

"Well, they're innocent until proven guilty, just like the rest of us, I suppose," Geordi mused. He listened to the pinging for a second. "Sounds like it's our pattern. Can you confirm, B-4?"

The android cocked his head and listened for a moment. "Yes; the pinging is identical in pitch, tone, and frequency to that found in the Denab and Kreetassan Systems."

"So it's the same source?" asked Mike.

"The probability is greater than 99%," B-4 reported.

"Just for laughs," Marty suggested, "let's get out a star chart and draw a line from the Kreetassan System to the Denab to here, and see what we get."

Geordi fiddled with controls and projected an image into midair in a section of Engineering. "Well, will you look at that," the engineer said as soon as the virtual model was fully assembled. "The heart of it, where all three lines intersect is at Lafa II, in the Lafa System. More specifically, it's at Point Abic."

"So there's a Calafan connection again," Marty concluded. "I say we make this quick, if we can. I think our real business is on Lafa II."

"You're probably right," Mike allowed. "Say, why aren't Dana and Tamsin here?"

"They're supposed to be interviewing the former team members," Marty said.

"Supposed to be." Geordi snorted a little. "I get the feeling that Dana and Tamsin don't get along too well."

Marty backed up slightly and held both hands up. "You didn't hear it from me."

=/\=

"We'll start with night shift personnel," Dana decided.

"Um, okay." Tamsin already seemed to be bored.

"You got a better idea?"

"Uh, no. I just wanna know why we're stuck doing this and not what the guys are doing. Uh, whatever that is."

"Well," Dana explained, "what they're doing is at a higher confidentiality level than you have access to, and I haven't been officially made privy to it, yet, either. Plus the people we're going to be interviewing worked under me in the prime timeline. Just like you do, now."

"But it's so – yes," Tamsin changed her tune in mid-whine when Dana shot her a look.

"I don't think you're happy here," Dana concluded. "Do you wanna go back to the _Talos_? Rick said you're supposed to be there."

"No. I just don't wanna be doing this."

"Well, it's gotta get done. C'mon," Dana commanded as Tamsin followed behind and none too closely.

=/\=

"Speaking of Tamsin," Mike said, "Do you think she really has a counterpart?"

"If she does, then things are a lot worse than even Rick thinks they are. But I don't think so," Geordi said. "After all, there's a lotta differences, to be sure, but there's also a ton of sameness. It seems to me as if a true counterpart for Tamsin would be such a radical difference that a lot more would have had to have gone wrong."

"I hope that's true," Marty said.

=/\=

The two women commandeered a conference room. "Okay, first up is Darren Shaw," Dana declared. She hit the pin on her uniform top. "Get me Darren Shaw, please."

"This is Shaw."

"This is Dana MacKenzie. I have a few questions for you. Can you come to conf – actually, better yet, can you come to _Ten Forward_?"

"Sure; I'll be there in ten or so. Shaw out."

"Why the change of venue?" asked Tamsin as they strode over.

"I want these people relaxed. I don't want them to think that they're in any sort of trouble."

They found a table and Tamsin got them both club sodas. In a few minutes, Shaw walked in. He was a big bruiser type of a guy, and came right over. "Ladies?"

"I don't think you know Tamsin Porter. She just transferred over here."

"Hi," Shaw said, shaking Tamsin's hand. "And?"

"I like a guy who can cut to the chase," Dana stated. "I know this is going to be kind of an odd question, but do you ever feel out of place here?"

"Huh; that is definitely an off the wall question," he commented. "I played football in High School and college. I tell you, there are days when I wouldn't mind chucking it all and going back to that. Er, why do you ask?"

"I see," Dana replied. "And, uh, let me ask you this next question before I tell you that – would you do anything about this dissatisfaction?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I dunno. What if it was a chance to make some big discovery, or radically alter your life? Would you take it?"

"I –"

Guinan, the El-Aurian proprietress of _Ten Forward_ , came over. "It's funny," she said. "And I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing you a bit. See, Shaw here isn't the only one who doesn't belong."

"What do you know about it?" Tamsin asked.

"I know that there are a good forty people who shouldn't be here. It's the three of you, for starters. It's M'Belle, and Wesley Crusher, and Yi'imspi. And others are in the wrong places, like Mike Daniels being the night shift Tactical Officer when he's supposed to be day shift."

"Well, that's not much. But as for me, I don't understand," said Shaw.

"Your names, too," Guinan continued. "Your identities are completely different from what they're supposed to be."

"Do you know what's going on?" Dana asked, point blank.

"I, uh," Guinan beckoned Dana over, and they stood to one side. The El-Aurian quietly said, "Come at 2000 hours, and bring Commander Madden with you. No one else."

"Uh, all right." Dana returned to where Tamsin and Shaw were still sitting. "I'm sorry you were cut off before," she said to Shaw. "You were saying?"

"I was just gonna say that I wouldn't be looking to make a big discovery or anything like that. It's just what I said – I'd be chucking it all and quietly or maybe not so quietly playing football. I don't need the rest of it, not really. I mean," he paused for a breath, "I like being a counselor and helping people, to the best of my abilities. But if I still had decent knees, and I couldn't do this, I'd be quarterbacking. Pro, hopefully."

"Sounds good. And thanks," Dana said. Then she remembered to add. "You had asked why we were asking. Well, a lot of it's confidential. But the bottom line is that things are," she caught Guinan's eye for a second, "a little out of kilter. I'm sorry but I can't really explain any more about that." She thought for a moment. "Do you have any questions, Tamsin?"

"No; I'm good."

As Shaw left, Dana engaged her communicator pin. "I'd like to talk to Yi'imspi, please."

=/\=

Geordi had been monitoring their scans in Engineering, when he said, "Hey, wait a second. That's odd."

"What is?" asked Mike.

"Over here, see? This field, here." He hit a few keys, and the image on his screen was magnified. The others came over to look.

"What are we looking at?" asked Marty.

"See, right here? This is the remains of an old gravimetric sphere. So's this, and this, and this, here."

"And?" Mike pressed.

"And this part that looks like debris is of the same vintage, and it's got the same gravimetric signature."

"So it's a part of a sphere?" Marty asked.

"Nope. It's soil and rocks. This is the remains of a moon, or even a planet."

"So does this mean the Augments are doing a little target practice?" Marty asked.

"Negative," replied B-4. "I have performed an analysis, and the destruction of this world appears to have occurred at the same time as the destruction of the spheres. This is likely a rogue planet or moon, captured by a sphere's gravity."

"What are those readings over there?" Mike asked.

Geordi's jaw dropped. "Those are refined metals. Holy cow, there was a civilization on this world!"

=/\=

Rick beamed to his cloaked ship briefly. He checked on the craft and then dictated, "Temporal Agent's report, preliminary. The _Enterprise-E_ is in the old Delphic Expanse. One of the vertices of the spatial pyramid is right where the _NX-01_ – the one kicked back in time due to a Kovaalan particle wake – grew crops. It's the site of what had been a small, dim, chilly moon that the people on Jonathan Archer's ship named _Speakeasy_ , because it was so well-hidden. Essentially, we have four vertices – the Kreetassan System, where a temporal change sent LaForge and Wesley Crusher briefly to 1941; Speakeasy, where the _NX-01_ spent time after being kicked back to 2037; and the unknown connection to the Denab System. Oh, and the fourth is currently unknown. While this does not account for all possible historical temporal interphases, it does account for some of them. This pyramid does answer a few questions, even as it raises others – in particular, the question regarding the placement of the fourth vertex. My next task will be to make contact with the El-Aurian, Guinan."

=/\=

Yi'imspi was a knockout Calafan, a species similar to humans but bald during its youth and with solid silver or copper extremities, depending upon an origin in the prime universe or the Mirror. The precious metal color would break down and form a pattern, eventually fading and then altogether disappearing when an individual was near death. Yi'imspi, with short silvery-blonde hair and mottled silver extremities, was not yet forty. She spoke. "What can I do for you?"

"We're curious," Dana began, "about whether you ever feel, I don't know, out of place on the _Enterprise_."

"What are you driving at, Dana?"

"I'm just wondering if the whole setup is, I dunno, itchy and strange and just kind of out of sorts."

"What's the purpose behind this inquiry?"

"We're just trying to confirm something."

"No, I don't think you really are," Yi'imspi countered suspiciously. "That just doesn't seem right. Now, I'd like some answers – why the questioning?"

"If you'd been told that things were off the rails," Tamsin explained, "how, exactly, would you go about confirming that?"

"I suppose I'd figure out the starting point, and work back from there," Yi'imspi stated.

"That's kinda what we're trying to do here," Dana clarified. "But we're hamstrung because we can't really find the starting point. We're not even so sure that the report of a change is at all accurate."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," the Calafan admitted.

"That's okay," Dana allowed, and they let her go.

Yi'imspi went straight back to quarters – not a suspicious move, as she worked the night shift and was expected to be in bed.

She commanded her replicator, "Heavy strength sedative, specifically, coulamine."

 _Request denied._

"What? Why?"

 _A heavy sedative cannot be replicated by any unit more than once per month, due to fears of stockpiling with the intent to attempt suicide._

"Right, okay, but I can use another unit." She went to the next-door cabin and found it locked. "Unlock – authorization: Yi'imspi Lo 12,000."

The door slid open obediently, and the replicator gave her what she wanted as well. It was a pure white tablet with a capital C on one side, and on the other, in tiny print were the words _Crossman Pharmaceuticals_.

Yi'imspi relocked the door to the other cabin and reentered her own, locking the door behind her. She got a glass of water and her PADD, and crawled into bed. She took the tablet and lay down, clutching her PADD, and waiting for sleep.

=/\=

They had been through all of the former athletes. After 37 awkward but mercifully short interviews, Dana was ready for bed. "Well, that's Rick's list," she announced to Tamsin. Both women were yawning a bit.

"But Guinan said there were a good forty misplaced people. We've only talked to 37. Even including you and me, we're missing someone," Tamsin reminded her.

"Right, but we don't have that name."

"We could look at random crew members."

"No," Dana decided. "There are over a thousand people on this ship. Random is just not practical."

"It's not like this was productive, anyway," Tamsin complained.

"Look, there's no good way to do this. Except for some vague admissions of feeling out of place, no one could possibly know anything, anyway." Dana glanced at her PADD. "It's, um, it's after shift, anyway. Dismissed." Tamsin was out of there like a shot, not even bothering to reply.

Dana checked the time – it was 1930 hours. Then her PADD skittered into sleep mode and showed an impromptu slide show of family members, many of whom she did not recognize. She stared at it a little, looking up when her name was called. "Yes?"

"I asked you if you wanted some supper." It was Guinan.

"Oh, God, definitely, thanks." She then engaged her communicator pin. "Get me Commander Madden, please."

"Madden here."

"You want some dinner? I'm in _Ten Forward_ and I've got some news."

"Sure thing, Myst – er, Dana," Marty was still in Engineering, so he corrected himself. "Be right there. Madden out."

=/\=

Asleep, Yi'imspi synchronized her dream to Charlie Eleven's, and they met.

 _"_ _I've got news," she reported._

 _"_ _It can wait. Champagne?" As it was but a dream, he produced a bottle out of thin air. "It's Grand Siècle."_

 _"_ _No, thanks. Look – something is up. I was just grilled by a senior officer, something about feeling displaced."_

 _"_ _Displaced? What does that mean, to such a beautiful creature as yourself?"_

 _"_ _It means," she wrinkled her nose at him as she was capable of smelling him in their shared dream, "that something is off. I think they suspect something about the radiation band cycling, and they might even suspect me."_

 _"_ _Have you told your superior officer?" Charlie asked, champagne forgotten for the nonce._

 _"_ _No, I haven't contacted Admiral Caul yet. Something is definitely off. But I'll be damned if I know what it is."_

 _"_ _Do you want to drop off, wake up, and talk to Caul?"_

 _"_ _Not yet. How's Porter working out for you?"_

 _"_ _She's trying to get me a ration card."_

 _"_ _Good girl."_

 _"_ _She also means to seduce me, it seems."_

 _"_ _Oh?"_

 _"_ _She correctly notes that I'll need an heir. Further, she knows I am currently, shall we say, in a bit of a bind."_

 _"_ _What are you telling me this for, Charlie? It's not like I give a linfep's ass about your love life," Yi'imspi huffed, referring to a small animal, native to the Lafa System, that looked a little like a hare._

 _"_ _You will care," Charlie declared. "Doctors and scientists will figure it out, or I'll keep Porter around for a surrogate. Otherwise, she doesn't matter to me. But, mark my words, there will be a breakthrough, and a Terran such as myself will be able to interbreed with another species."_

 _"_ _Which species?"_

 _"_ _Calafans – namely, you, Yi'imspi."_

 _The Calafan gulped._


	10. 10-Family Dinner

Marty arrived in Ten Forward with Geordi and Mike right behind him. Tamsin returned, too, after not having found anywhere better to go. "Family dinner, I guess," Dana commented as the five of them sat down together. She noticed and was grateful for Geordi interposing himself between Marty and Tamsin. Dana sat on the other side of Marty with Mike next to her around the small round table.

They mainly ate in silence. Dana finished her stew first, and grabbed her tablet, again jogging it out of sleep mode. The image on the screen had been that of a boy of maybe ten years of age with a bicycle. "Hey," Mike commented, upon seeing the photograph, "I've got that same picture on my PADD."

"What?" asked Marty. He took out his own PADD. "Dana and I just have old family pictures on ours."

Mike retrieved his PADD. "So do I."

"I do, too," Geordi added, taking out his PADD. "Tamsin?"

"Me, too." She got out her PADD.

"Which ones are in common?" asked Dana. "I know Commander Madden and I both have the same because we grew up together, but what about the three of you? Does everyone have the kid with his bike?" They all murmured their assents.

"I've got a redheaded girl holding up, I think it's her doctorate," Tamsin said.

"That's Leonora Digiorno," Marty said. "We should all have her – she wrote the book. What about these folks?"

It was a family of four. The father was Caucasian while the mother was of Asian descent. The daughter seemed to be the elder child. "I got them," Geordi said, asking, "What about the Bat Mitzvah photo?" It was an image of a girl wearing a tallis, standing with what were apparently her parents and younger sister, and a small three-person family who were probably guests. The wife and son in the guest family were exceptionally pale, both with crystal blue eyes.

"That's Lili," Marty said. "Did anyone else look at the appendix to the book? A lot of these pictures are in there, and so is the family tree. That's Alia Shapiro's Bat Mitzvah. Her younger sister, Rebecca, ends up growing up to marry the son in this family of guests. He's Declan Reed, and that's Malcolm Reed."

"I'll have to look more closely," Mike said. "What about these folks? Is this Lili again?"

It was a picture of a youngish very pale woman, holding a newborn child, in front of a restaurant called _Reversal_ , with a man who was probably her husband. "Yes, that's Lili again," Marty explained, "and she's holding her first born, who is your ancestor, Tamsin – that's Joss Beckett. The husband is, well, that guy's the reason we're all here. That's Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett."

"So that's Daddy Doug," Dana commented. "You look a lot like him."

"I guess I do, a bit," Marty allowed. "Hang on; I'll find our branch." He scrolled through the images until he found the one he wanted. "There. That's Doug with Melissa Madden. The older kid is Tommy; the baby is our ancestor, Neil Digiorno-Madden." He paused and looked at the photograph more closely. "You look a lot like Melissa, Dana."

"Huh, I suppose I do."

After they'd finished eating, Guinan came over. "If the rest of you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Commander Madden and Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie here."

 _Ten Forward_ was already cleared of the other diners. The rest of the family departed. Once the door had shut, they sat down together. "Well?" asked Marty.

"I know something about it," Guinan claimed.

"About the temporal dislocation?" Dana asked.

"That, yes," confirmed the El-Aurian, "but also about the two of you."

=/\=

 _Yi'imspi was as gracious as she could be. "I, well, my place is here, in the 21 centimeter radiation band universe. I've got plenty to do here, you see."_

 _"_ _There's no reason why we can't be more … friendly."_

 _"_ _You're just bored. Seriously, I'm an engineer, and we're just not very exciting."_

 _"_ _Don't sell yourself short. You are very exciting," Charlie insisted. "Would you like to see – or, better yet, feel – just how exciting you are to me?" He leered at her._

 _"_ _Listen to me," the Calafan countered sharply, "I've got no time for this. I'm only in this in order to restore you to power. It's good for you, and a side effect is that it's good for the Federation on my side of the pond. And of course I get my cut. But that's where I draw the line. You get restored, and I'm done. Do you understand? Go back to Porter. She's clearly interested, and can – she's right, you know – she can easily give you an heir. So quit bothering me with this."_

 _"_ _You seem to forget who you're talking to."_

 _"_ _You seem to forget that you live in a hut these days. I'm outta here." She disappeared as he watched, and swore under his breath._

=/\=

"What is it that you know?" Dana asked skeptically.

"See, it's an El-Aurian sense," she explained. "The timeline may be out of kilter, but I just, I know that you're both unhappy in the prime timeline, too."

"Why would we be?" Marty asked. "Is it because Dana here is supposed to be a sports coach?"

"Partly. But you, in particular, I know all about you. I can only guess about Dana here. But it's that you're lonely, Commander."

"I –"

"And I know exactly why. See, I know you're in love with her." Guinan gestured in Dana's direction. "But the law is clear – albeit unjust – and you can't have her. I'm guessing you feel the same way, Dana."

"I don't just feel that in the prime timeline," Dana admitted.

"I didn't wanna say it in front of the others," Guinan explained. "I know it could hurt your careers. But you're both miserable, and it's for no good reason."

"But what are we supposed to do?" asked Dana.

"Fight the law. It was a lousy and kinda shady political compromise. It doesn't really help the people it was supposed to be helping in the first place. You know, the Daranaeans who were interbreeding at younger and younger ages? Yeah, it was supposed to disallow certain forms of child brides. But instead, that law makes it so the hammer comes down particularly hard and unfairly on people just like the two of you."

"I imagine fighting the law would have the potential of killing off both our careers," Marty opined.

"Not necessarily. But you forget that she's a sports coach in the prime timeline. She works for herself or, at least, I think you do, Dana. So unless you wanna fire yourself, then I'd say you wouldn't have so much to lose."

"Am I gonna remember this conversation once the regular timeline is restored?" asked Dana. "Because this is all well and good, but if I forget to do it, this talk is, with all due respect, kinda useless."

"I don't think you'll remember," Guinan speculated. "But **_I_** will."

=/\=

 _In her dream, Yi'imspi, like all Calafans, had good control. She could destabilize one connection and then readily synchronize with another one. Leaving Charlie far behind, she found herself tossed back into the regular pool of dreamers in the shared consciousness. It was millions of Calafans, all streaming together in a loosely-organized crowd. It was both the silver ones from the prime universe – just like her – and the copper-colored ones from the Mirror. Men and a few women leered at her, but she remained noncommittal until she heard a British-accented voice amidst the din. She was instantly connected, a benefit of being a full-blooded Calafan. "Can I help you?" she asked the human woman she found, who was transmitting a dream from the Mirror._

 _"_ _I, er, I don't think so," replied the woman, Carmen. "I've got someone I'm meeting. I'm afraid that someone isn't you."_

 _"_ _Maybe I know them."_

 _There was something about the Calafan's overly friendly manner and insistence that roused Carmen's suspicions. Pretty much all Calafans were friendly, and particularly to humans, but this seemed like far too much for someone she had only just met. "Can you tell me your name?" Carmen asked, hoping that the deflection would buy her some time. Being human, Carmen did not have the kind of psionic dream state control that Yi'imspi or anyone like her had. Carmen was only connected because of the enormous amount of callidium in the area. Callidium the a natural alloy that amplified dreams and was present, in a measurably amount, in every Calafan's body._

 _"_ _Sure. I'm Yi'imspi. My name means student of speech or student of communications."_

 _"_ _My name is Carmen, and I haven't got a bloody clue as to what that means."_

 _"_ _What are you doing in the Mirror?"_

 _"_ _I live here," Carmen lied._

 _"_ _No, you don't,"Yi'imspi replied confidently. "Your radiation band is all wrong. Tell me, Carmen, what the hell you're doing in the wrong universe."_

 _"_ _Why the devil should I tell you anything?"_

 _Yi'imspi had good enough control of the shared dream state that she could change virtually anything about it. So she conjured up a phaser out of thin air. She pointed the weapon at Carmen. "I have my ideas as to what you're doing there, but I'd rather hear it all straight from you. So spill it, Carmen, and tell me what I want to know."_

=/\=

"Guinan," Dana asked, "since you can see the differences between this new timeline and the correct one, can you see other things?"

"What kinds of other things?"

"A bit of the future. But," Dana assured the El-Aurian, "I'm not talking about much. I just, I wanna know; if we fight the second cousin incest law, if we'll succeed."

"Dana, that part hasn't happened yet. So I have no idea. But I've got a feeling, all right? Look at yourselves. You're the most unhappily successful people I have ever seen! This is," she gestured a bit vaguely, "your careers on the _Enterprise-E_ are good. I'm sure they are. But you are missing the biggest, most important piece of your own personal puzzles."

Marty glanced down at his PADD, and noticed it was late. "We've kept you too long. I appreciate this; I do! But I think everyone's just tired."

"Commander?" asked Guinan.

"Yes?"

"I don't know exactly what you're working on right now, although I bet it's why we're here in the old Delphic Expanse. But no matter what it is, I bet if you can deliver on it then, law or no law, you can write this ticket yourself."

"I don't know," he said, getting up. Dana got up, too, and put a hand on his arm. He turned and smiled at her a little.

"Don't worry," Guinan said, "I'll be sure to remember to tell you this, too."


	11. 11-Carmen

_Carmen remembered – it was a dream! If she concentrated closely enough, she would be able to do nearly anything. She kicked up at the phaser and knocked it out of Yi'imspi's hands._

 _"_ _Whatever you think you're trying," Yi'imspi threatened, "it won't work."_

 _"_ _Oh, but it will." Carmen waved a bit at the Calafan. "Ta," she cheerily interjected as she jerked her head to one side, hard._

The force woke her up, but also wrenched her neck and brought on a nearly instantaneous and wicked migraine. "God, that was close," she muttered, holding her head in her hands. She tapped out a quick message on her PADD to the company she made deliveries for, telling them that she would not be able to work that day.

=/\=

 _For Rick's own dream, he bypassed several people and found a lone Terran female. "You lost?" he asked her._

 _Jenn Porter looked down her nose at him. "I've got other business," she said, a little testy._

 _"_ _Oh? No time for little old me?"_

 _"_ _I don't know you," she complained._

 _"_ _So? This is a dream. It can be a one-nighter." She made a face at him, so he hastily added, "Or we could just talk. See, I've met your counterpart on the other side of the pond. At least, I think she's your counterpart. I'll admit I'm not sure."_

 _"_ _Why should I care what you say?" She conjured up a mirror and began primping in front of it._

 _"_ _Who's the special guy you're getting ready for?"_

 _"_ _He's a lot more important than_ _ **you**_ _are."_

 _"_ _You don't say. Look, I've also got someone to meet, but she's not too experienced with these sorts of dreams, so I think she's gone asynchronous. Maybe that's what happened to your guy. Or maybe they're asynchronous together."_

 _"_ _I hardly think he'd be interested in any low lifes like you," she sniffed, conveniently forgetting that Charlie Eleven was living in a shack. "I bet your friend is just as low class."_

 _"_ _I can help you synchronize again," he offered._

 _"_ _What'll you want for that?"_

 _Rick was about to suggest something a bit more earthy, but he held his tongue. "I'll need for you to meet my friend, Carmen Calavicci."_

 _"_ _So you can just do us both? No, thanks."_

 _"_ _Intriguing as that sounds, no. I want you to meet her while you're both awake."_

 _"_ _Why?"_

 _"_ _We just wanna know if you're a true counterpart to Tamsin Porter on our side. That's it."_

 _"_ _Right, yeah. What's the catch?"_

 _"_ _No catch. It's a simple DNA and radiation band test."_

 _"_ _What if I turn out to be this Tamsin's counterpart? You'll want something from me, I bet."_

 _"_ _We'll cross that bridge if and when we get to it, okay? So, whaddaya say?"_

 _Before she could answer, he heard the sounds of a scuffle. In the dream, he could move as fast or as slow as he wanted. "'Scuse me." He got to the scene of the scuffle nearly instantaneously, only to find Carmen in the process of disappearing. Yi'imspi turned to him, but he could see the phaser on the floor. "What's been going on here?"_

 _"_ _So you are at least part-Calafan, Crewman Daniels."_

 _"_ _That doesn't answer my question."_

 _"_ _No, but it does answer one of mine."_

=/\=

Carmen sat up in bed, in alarm, holding her head. "Blast! I have got to be considerably more careful. I'll need to wait for Richard to go to sleep before I can safely lay my head – and the _Enterprise-E_ is a good four hours earlier than it is here." She checked a wall chronometer, which showed that it was nearly 0200 hours. "Still, you should be in bed by now, Daniels. And _**sleeping,**_ you womanizer." She sighed. "I suppose I shall have to take my chances now, and beware of a certain Calafan named Yi'imspi."

=/\=

 _"_ _Questions?" asked Rick, affecting an air of nonchalance. He was considerably better skilled than Carmen was, when it came to the shared dream state. With some concentration, he made the phaser disappear._

 _"_ _Yes, see, you've got an odd heritage. It doesn't make any sense," Yi'imspi stated._

 _"_ _What do you think you know?"_

 _"_ _Oh, I know it for certain all right. See, this dream raises some other fascinating questions, just as readily as it answers others. You've got Calafan blood, to be sure. And you've got Mirror Universe blood as well. I understand you claim to be a time traveler. So tell me, Daniels, exactly how do you do it?"_

 _He stood there, stock still, not twitching or moving any other muscles. "Where are you hearing such lies from? Somebody out there's got an awfully vivid imagination."_

 _"_ _Hardly," she countered. "This is what you are – a misfit. You don't belong in either radiation band, much like the others. And you don't belong in our time period, either. You're a mass of, well, it's not contradictions. Rather, you're a mass of unfinished subplots in a novel. Where does your chapter go? And how does it end, eh?"_

 _If she knew about the descendants of Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett, then there was no telling what else she could possibly know. "Others? Who are you talking about?" Maybe he'd be able to trace the leak this way, he figured._

 _"_ _Apart from you, there are thirteen messed-up people out there. Their family tree is a bunch of twisted-together and tangled vines."_

 _"_ _Oh, really? Anybody I know?"_

 _"_ _Of course you know; don't play coy with me," Yi'imspi snapped peevishly. "They're why you're here in the first place."_

 _"_ _Actually, no."_

 _That seemed to bring the Calafan up short. "What, so why are you here?"_

 _"_ _I'll never tell," he replied, willing himself to wake up._

Much like Carmen had, he sat up. "This is going to cramp our style, big time, if Carmen and I can't meet. It doesn't look like my waking hours will be much better. Wherever that leak is, it's got to be plugged. And whoever is leaking that information – either they, or Yi'imspi, or possibly even both, has got to be behind the band cycling. Or at least related to it somehow."

=/\=

Back in her office, Admiral Harriet Caul sat and mulled over her situation. She engaged her communicator. "Get me ultimate confidentiality. I will make the final connection manually."

There was a relayer on the other end of the line, who flipped a switch and then reported, "Ready; I am dropping off now."

Caul clicked on her PADD several times. Her desktop computer also sprang to life, and showed a split screen – Admiral Alynna Nechayev on one side, and Yi'imspi on the other. "Report," Caul commanded.

"Efforts to locate any other transuniversal hybrids have reached numerous dead ends," Nechayev said. "I suspect anyone else with an anomalous band is dead. Hence we are still at fourteen – the thirteen we found, plus Richard Daniels. Picard and the others still seem to believe that these cross-breeds will be useful for universe to universe communications. I do not believe that he suspects our primary motive, to potentially send them to the Mirror and restore Charles VI to power if all else fails."

"All right," Caul conceded. "Let me know if anyone suspects anything. We'll need a modified shuttle, I believe. That brings me to you, Yi'imspi."

"Right," replied the Calafan. "The shuttle is just about ready, but I'll need a way to modify weapons and mimic an old pulse cannon. The _Monongahela_ has proven to be a bit recalcitrant. But that's not the big thing I can report tonight."

"Oh?" asked Caul.

"I met Daniels in my dream. I can only conclude that he is at least partly Calafan," Yi'imspi said.

"That's another in the plus column, on the side of confirming that he's a time traveler," Nechayev remarked. "I wonder when, in the future, interbreeding between our two species will be perfected."

"Did he say anything to you?" asked Caul.

"He said that he wasn't here on the _Enterprise-E_ for the thirteen hybrids. But he wouldn't tell me exactly why he's here. He also arrived when a human woman left my dream. She called herself Carmen."

"You've got a busy subconscious," Nechayev observed.

"We all do. But a human really only has three choices when it comes to becoming a part of a standard Calafan dream state. One is to just be in the Lafa System. Another is to be in physical contact with a Calafan while sleeping."

"And the third?" pressed Caul.

"The third is to be at least part-Calafan. I can tell – the dream state allows for this – that this woman is wholly human and wholly at the 21 centimeter radiation band. And she probably really is in the Lafa System. But the dream state also allows for me to understand the universe of origin of a dreamer – and she was dreaming within the Mirror. She also can't effectively transmit her dream state across the light years. So she's getting some help from either a full-blooded or partial Calafan."

"So there's a connection between Carmen and Daniels," Caul concluded.

"Plus this Carmen being somehow in the Mirror Universe," Nechayev added. "That's awfully fishy right there. So your design seems to have worked, or at least it inspired others to invent a similar methodology."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Yi'imspi complained. "For humans to be able to quickly and reliably cross over is all well and good. But – Charlie Eleven notwithstanding – the last thing we need is Terrans coming over and invading."

"And that is why you're on this project in the first place," Caul snapped. "As you are well aware, our Calafan intelligence has told us that they've been hunting for a means of crossing over."

"They've been trying to cross over ever since the time of Empress Hoshi," Yi'imspi pointed out.

"Right, but they're a lot closer to succeeding now," Nechayev said. "Your job is to leverage Charles VI's desperation to be reinstated, and make it appear as if he's succeeded. This aligns with our interests rather neatly, to overthrow the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance."

"I know my job," the Calafan groused, "and I can make it look good. But if Charlie Eleven meets Carmen – and he figures out that she's a 21 centimeter type of gal, then he'll know that the technology works. He won't be satisfied with half a demo. He will want the real thing and he will invade."

"Then we'd better get this Carmen out of the way," Caul commented darkly.


	12. 12-Intuition

When morning finally broke, the only people who seemed to have slept well at all were Marty and Dana. They sat down to breakfast together in _Ten Forward_. Rick entered the room and came right over. "Can I join you?" he asked.

"Sure thing, Rick," Dana replied. "What's up? You look a little flustered."

"I've got a line on – possibly – at least one of the causes of the band cycling."

"We'd better talk this over in private," Marty suggested.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Rick agreed.

"My quarters, then," Dana suggested.

Guinan came over and, looking straight at Rick, stated, "You're not from here."

"No, I'm not. And I know you've got a sense for such things. Your instincts are correct."

"Good to know," Guinan replied. "There are others who don't belong."

"I've got a list," Rick told her.

"I see the most misplaced one is," the El-Aurian paused and looked up. "Ah, there she is."

In walked Yi'imspi. She came right over. "So we meet again," she immediately said to Rick.

"I guess we do."

"What the hell is going on with you?" she asked. "You don't make any sense."

"A lot of the crew doesn't," Guinan interjected, adding another place setting although no one had invited Yi'imspi to join them.

"What are you talking about, Yi'imspi?" asked Dana.

"He's not all human," the Calafan explained. "He has the ability to access and enter and even control Calafan-style dreaming. So by definition, he is partly my species. And we can't interbreed."

"Anything else?" asked Marty.

"He's got dealings with someone from the Mirror Universe. We can access that side in our dreaming. I'd say you're someone to worry about, Crewman Daniels."

"If he's part-Calafan, then he's just accessing the Mirror in the same way that you are," Dana pointed out.

"Not like that," Yi'imspi claimed. "When it comes to, see, anyone who's human or partly so? Those people don't have good control. And they certainly can't act decisively when accessing the Mirror. They can't control objects, that sort of thing."

"So he's skilled. Give it a rest," Dana complained.

"You don't seem to understand the gravity of this situation," said the Calafan. "He's the enemy."

=/\=

Carmen had recovered enough from her pounding migraine to be able to go out for a walk. But a day of work was out of the question. She was glad she had called in sick.

The modest Calafan neighborhood was a bastion of charity housing. The apartments were squat and modular, but so were even elegant Calafan homes owned by the wealthy. The difference was the interior. A wealthy or even a middle class Calafan would have had unique decorations and furnishings, with cost rising, commensurate with one's station in life. But Carmen's little temporary home was only spartanly furnished, and there were no personal touches whatsoever. It all made sense, though, as she had no plans to stay.

She strolled around a bit and returned home, and then entered the home's sole bathroom and splashed water on her face. She eyed the bidet skeptically. "I'll never understand what people see in those," she muttered to herself.

There was a knock at her front door and she froze. She was not expecting anyone, and knew no one, beyond the most superficial and brief of acquaintances. "Just a moment," she called.

She straightened her traditional Calafan tunic and pants. Her own real clothes were tucked away on the _Audrey Niffenegger_. She smoothed her hair and answered the door. "Yes?"

It was Jenn Porter – Carmen did not let her in. "You said you could make a fake identification card for a friend of mine."

"How did you find this place?"

"Never mind that. Can you do it?" Jenn looked beyond Carmen's shoulder and into the interior of the modest home. She sneered, "You could use the money."

Carmen blinked. She was still a bit woozy from the combined effects of a migraine and not enough sleep. The short stroll had tuckered her out. "I, well, I'll need to see the image."

Jenn pulled out her PADD. "Where do I click?"

"Uh, here," Carmen said, producing her advanced PADD, which had been camouflaged to appear as if it had been manufactured during the current time period.

"Right. Tomorrow?"

"Sure."

Jenn left. As the door shut, Carmen glanced at the photo. "Well, well, well, if it isn't old Charlie Eleven himself! A bit rough 'bout the edges, but it is you, all right." She thought for a moment. "But how the devil am I going to get to the _Audrey_ and her replicator to make a fake ID if I can't go to sleep and contact Richard?"

It suddenly hit her – the weight of the world. "Danger or no danger," she yawned, "I have got to get some rest." She kicked her shoes back off. Clutching her PADD, and not removing any more of her street clothing, she got back into bed. "I can't let them break me," she murmured drowsily.

=/\=

"Enemy?" asked Dana.

"He's from the Mirror – at least in part. And he's certainly working with them," Yi'imspi claimed. "By definition, he's the enemy."

"I, eh." Dana got up. "I've got a job to go to today. And so does everybody else here. Sorry, Guinan, but we've gotta go." The El-Aurian just vaguely waved as Dana retreated, Marty hot on her heels.

Once they'd left _Ten Forward_ , he said to her, "We need to talk about this."

"You're tellin' me. But after shift."

"My quarters, then," Marty suggested, pressing Dana's hand briefly.

Tamsin was walking down the hall and, while she didn't hear all of their exchange, she saw and heard enough to know that Dana would be visiting Marty's quarters that evening. Smiling, she tapped out a quick note to herself –

 _Send incest law to Martin Madden, anonymously._

She then went to her shift without a care in the world.

=/\=

Exhausted, Carmen was able to sleep.

 _At least this time the parade of silver – prime universe – and copper – Mirror Universe – Calafans didn't include Yi'imspi. She waved off everyone, finally selecting a door in the huge shared dream hall. It led to a small room and, in her dream; she waited for Rick to arrive._

=/\=

Dana, Marty, and M'Belle sat with Captain Picard on the Bridge as the day shift began. Wesley sat at a forward station, piloting the ship. "Sir?" he asked. "I'm getting some strange readings."

"How strange?" asked Picard.

"It's as if there were obstacles out here, sir," Wesley explained, "but I know there's really nothing here at all. We're clear of that debris field we saw earlier."

Picard nodded slightly at Marty, who bellowed, "Yellow alert!"

Dana hit a few switches on her console, taking anything in Tactical, no matter what it was, out of wait and diagnostic modes, but not arming anything yet.

Unless a piece of equipment was quite literally in pieces, it was considered to be fully operational and ready. Her console flashed a bit as automatic reports of readiness came in, along with specific details such as megatons of TNT, highest achievable speed, and aiming capabilities. Her console then automatically ranked everything in order of readiness, followed by firepower and then accuracy, with the least accurate equipment outlined in yellow. For anything where she wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn, those would only be used if they were surrounded by enemies or she received the order to fire at point blank range or just unload whatever she had. Those would also be used if they were desperate and down to their last chances. But the number of weapons on the _Enterprise-E_ was very high, and so it was a rare occasion when she'd be forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Wesley, at the pilot's station, performed a somewhat similar exercise. He, too, took everything out of wait or diagnostic mode. A brief Engineering report flashed on his screen, telling him that the warp engines were operating perfectly, and that he was cleared to Warp 8 for long distances, and Warp 9 for brief bursts of speed. A display showed him the ship's estimated braking time, depending upon speed.

Another display showed the distance to the nearest friendly star systems. He could toggle a switch and it would calculate estimated times of arrival, based on speed and anticipated obstacles. Yet another display offered the condition of the impulse engines, and one more showed that the maneuvering thrusters were operating within acceptable parameters.

At the same time, in Engineering, Geordi monitored the matter-antimatter intermix ratio and the stability of the warp containment field. A separate display showed the relative temperatures and any obstructions within the series of branched Jeffries tubes snaking around the ship. This was in order to determine whether there were any fires or coolant leaks, or even hidden intruders.

Back on the Bridge, M'Belle punched up Communications from her seat. This part of the yellow alert for the _Enterprise-E_ was normally done through the Tactical station, where Dana was. But that was the Prime timeline. Instead, in this variation, the ship's counselor had that duty, and the placement and configuration of the equipment was slightly dissimilar.

Rick had been walking the halls a little – and partly, informally, following Tamsin around a bit whenever she took a break – when the yellow alert was sounded. Tamsin obeyed orders and rushed back to her lower level Tactical station. But Rick instead dropped what he was doing, ducked into a nearby unused lab, and beamed back to his cloaked time ship, the _Audrey Niffenegger_. He yelled, as soon as he rematerialized, " _Audrey!_ Check on all spatial anomalies or incoherent energy readings in the area."

 _Sensors indicate the presence of diffuse ions, such as would occur as a byproduct of the usage of multiple primitive interphasic cloaking devices._

"Who would have interphasic cloaking devices here, and now, in this temporal variant?" he asked.

The answer came after perhaps a minute.

 _The descendants of the Augments._

"The _Botany Bay_?"

 _Mainly. Some of these may be the descendants of Dr. Arik Soong's so-called 'children'._

"They were found by the _NX-01_. That's Malik and Jaya's group. I thought they were all killed."

 _Conclusive proof of full destruction has never been found. There is a possibility that at least a few survived in escape pods and entered the Delphic Expanse._

"So are their actions, at least partly, responsible for the radiation band cycling? Assuming it's Augments and they're doing what I think they're doing?"

 _Affirmative._


	13. 13-Dreams and Ghosts

_In her dream, Carmen heard a knock. "Yes?" She half-expected Jenn Porter, as in her waking state. But she still asked, "Richard?"_

 _"_ _That is not my name," scolded the man who opened the dream door. He was somewhat paunchy, with an impressive beard and wild eyes. He had human Asian and Caucasian blood, and a smidgen of Vulcan. He looked as if he had fallen on hard times, even though the dream state would have permitted him to cover up his deficiencies. But he did not have any Calafan blood in him, and no real experience with the shared dream state, and so he was incapable of such subconscious tricks._

 _It was the man whose photograph she had seen, while awake, not one hour earlier. "Charlie Eleven, I presume."_

 _"_ _Ah, you have me at a bit of a disadvantage," he said, probably drawing on some long-forgotten memory of courtly manners. "And you are, Miss?"_

 _"_ _Carmen."_

 _"_ _A delightful opera from the other side of the pond."_

 _"_ _I wouldn't know," she claimed, not wanting to let on that she didn't belong in his universe._

 _"_ _A pity. Tell me, Carmen, have you seen a Calafan, by chance?"_

 _"_ _There are a ton of Calafans in the dream state at any one time. I'm sure you're well aware of that."_

 _"_ _She's a beautiful woman. Her name is Yi'imspi."_

 _Carmen swallowed, recalling her most recent meeting with Yi'imspi, which had involved a drawn phaser. "Silver or copper?"_

 _"_ _How do you know that?"_

 _"_ _The same way you do, I imagine," Carmen explained. "I've seen both versions here on Lafa II."_

 _"_ _So you are on the same miserable rock where I currently find myself. The amenities are not up to my," he sniffed haughtily, "standards. But I digress. Where are you living? Perhaps I could enjoy your company in person."_

 _"_ _I don't recall inviting you."_

 _"_ _Would you not wish to feast your eyes on an Emperor? Is that not a dream of yours, Carmen?"_

 _"_ _Not bloody likely. All I want to do is make you your forged ration card and be done with it." The minute she said that, Carmen regretted it. Charlie Eleven was, she was sure, far from stupid. He would figure out the connection, particularly if he talked to Yi'imspi. She banged her own forehead, silently cursing herself for the slip-up._

 _"_ _So you're the one who Porter found, eh? Well, then I imagine she's obtained your address somehow. Resourceful girl, but she's far too scrawny."_

 _"_ _Give her your extras with your new falsified ration card, and she'll stop being too scrawny for you."_

 _"_ _Tell me, Carmen, for I enjoy women with a little spice to them, are you not intrigued? Not even a little bit?"_

 _"_ _I've got what to do, without you."_

 _He grabbed her arm roughly, and she hauled off and cracked him hard, across the face. "You don't seem to understand. I give the orders, and you comply with them."_

 _"_ _You're just barely on this side of vagrancy. You're hardly in a position to command anyone, or anything."_

 _"_ _The Empire will rise again. The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance won't last forever. And once I've punched through, they'll have to give it all back to me, on a veritable silver platter."_

 _"_ _Punched through where? What?"_

 _"_ _Why, it's the barrier between universes. See, there were some records. My ancestor, Hoshi the Great, she had some of them expunged, but there was some unrelated information that she never got to. Her daughter – and my direct ancestor – Takara Sato Masterson Tucker – she wrote her memoirs. She claimed to have had rather earthy dreams of a fellow named Thomas Digiorno-Madden. There was even a possible indication that he could have been the father of her son, Charles Tucker V, who was the father of the Emperor Charles I."_

 _"_ _What are you talking about? How is that even possible?"_

 _"_ _This dream state," he explained, "it permits certain kinds of bridgings. Digiorno-Madden's descendants would have a radiation band – it's the hydrogen line, and its length differs, depending on the universe – it would be a figure out over twenty centimeters. The matter was being investigated when the interregnum began."_

 _"_ _So being deposed has cramped your style a little," she commented. "This is fascinating and all, but it's to which point?"_

 _"_ _I want to know my heritage. Maybe there's family. And whether there is, or there isn't, that universe should be ripe for conquest. I will deliver it, and the Terran Empire will rise again."_

=/\=

" _Audrey,_ " Rick commanded, "give me everything we've got on Yi'imspi, in both the prime timeline and this iteration. Actually, give me what you've got for all of the temporal iterations."

 _Prime universe or mirror?_

"That's a good question. Uh, both."

 _In the prime timeline and 21 centimeter radiation band universe, known as the prime universe, Yi'imspi is an athlete on Misty Dana MacKenzie's barnstorming team, the Black Sheep._

"And before that?"

 _She attended the Rhea Polytechnic Institute, and attained a Bachelor's degree in Warp Engineering._

"Why would she be playing sports with that kind of an education?"

 _The answer to your inquiry is not known to this unit._

"Er, that was a rhetorical question, anyway." He thought for a moment. "What did she do between graduating tech school and trying out for Dana's team?"

 _Available information indicates that the subject was heavily recruited by numerous engineering firms and even by Starfleet._

"Then it's even weirder that she chucked it all to play sports. Who did she end up working for?"

 _None of them – the subject instead attended numerous foreign language classes and training programs offered via the guard training program at Canamar Prison._

"That's, wait, what?" He was getting a nagging feeling, and it wasn't going away. "Nobody needs to learn foreign languages anymore, not with universal translators. Even I don't have to; my implanted communicator does that. So why are you bothering, Yi'imspi? And **_Canamar_**? That's weird on its face. Huh," he snapped his fingers in realization. "I bet that was all spy training! Computer, crack into the present-day records of Section 31. Do so on my authorization. Search for female Calafan agents."

 _Gaining entry and decrypting the files, and performing the requested search, will take hours._

"Okay, I'll head back to the _Enterprise-E_. I don't know how much you know about the band cycling, but I bet you're assigned to investigate it."

=/\=

 _"_ _If this Madden fellow is your ancestor," Carmen pointed out, "then your band – you called it a band, yes?" Charles nodded, so she continued, "Your band would be off, am I right?"_

 _"_ _Yes," he confirmed._

 _"_ _Are there other transuniversal lovers? Perhaps your Mister Madden isn't the only one crossing a veritable pond."_

 _"_ _No," Charles said. "I am certain that Digiorno-Madden is the only one. But the percentage will prove it."_

 _"_ _And how do you propose to measure it?"_

 _"_ _My friend Yi'imspi is an engineer. She can build me a detector, I am certain."_

 _"_ _Is she building anything else for you?" Carmen inquired._

 _Charles must have realized he had said too much, for he snapped, "Interview's over!" He angrily stormed out of the dream room, slamming the imaginary door behind him._

 _"_ _I'll lay better than even money that you – or she, or both, perhaps – are our band cycler. Oh, Charlie Eleven, whatever shall we do with you?"_

=/\=

"We're being hailed, Captain," M'Belle reported. "It's coming from a planet."

"On screen," Picard commanded.

The people on screen were, it seemed, human. They were dressed in little more than rags. One, a woman of perhaps forty or so, snapped, "Who the hell are _you_?"

Picard seemed taken aback for a moment. "I am Jean-Luc Picard of the _USS Enterprise-E_."

"Darragh Masterson of Archer's Planet," she replied. "You Starfleet?"

"Yes," the captain replied cautiously.

Darragh turned to a younger fellow standing near her. "Whaddaya think, EK?"

Now Dana looked up as the man started speaking, her jaw agape with every syllable. "I don't know, Dee. I mean, it wouldn't surprise me. But all the way out here? Maybe it's a trick of the Empire."

"Kent?" Dana asked, forgetting protocols for a moment.

Now Marty was intrigued. He motioned to M'Belle to briefly cut the sound. He stood, turning toward Picard but with his back to the main viewer. "Sir," he said, "we all know that the existence of the Terran Empire isn't as closely guarded a secret as it used to be. But people out in the middle of nowhere? I mean, the likelihood is small."

"No," Dana corrected him. "If that's my ex, Kent Hoberman's, counterpart, then the likelihood _should_ be impossible."

As Rick rematerialized into an unused lab on the _Enterprise-E_ , he engaged his implanted communicator. " _Audrey_ ," he commanded, "patch me through to all command and control communications, at all levels of access, confidentiality, and encryptions. Listening mode only."

 _Working. New command will take computing and processing power from the previous command to break into and decrypt Section 31 files. This will add time to that earlier task._

"That's acceptable."

The volume was low, so that he could hear what was going on without anyone in the vicinity – unless they were _very_ close to him – being the wiser. He could hear Picard say, "Are you saying that there is a second breach to the Mirror Universe, MacKenzie?"

Dana replied, "I don't know, sir. But that guy is Kent and not Kent, if you know what I mean."

"Perhaps this Kent has a secret side you do not know," Rick could hear M'Belle say. She added, "I should tell you, they are hailing us again."

"You've got insider information, MacKenzie," Picard said. "Determine whether this is our universe's Kent. Open the channel, please, M'Belle."

Apparently the Caitian did just that. "Kent," Rick could hear Dana repeat.

"What?" there was a pause and Rick surmised that Kent was checking Dana out, for the man added, in smoother tones. "Hey, 'sup?"

Dana laughed a little. "Don't tell me that actually works where you come from."

"It works just fine, girl. And you are?"

"Focus, you worthless targ!" a woman's voice snapped – Rick didn't know that the voice belonged to Darragh Masterson.

"Right," Kent muttered, and Rick concluded that Kent and that woman were romantically linked.

"What happened to Sandy?" Dana asked pointedly.

"Sandy?" asked the woman, in a tone that was becoming increasingly agitated.

"Kent's ex-wife," Dana explained. "Or did you forget to tell her about that?"

"I don't know any Sandy, Darragh. Look, girlie, whatever stalling tactics you're trying, they just won't work."

"Let's get down to brass tacks," the woman said. "What the hell are you doing in our Delphic Expanse?"

"I have no record of any such claim of ownership," the captain declared.

"We live here," the woman said, "on Archer's Planet and Ceti Alpha V."

"We found debris," Picard said, "and we wanted to investigate. Ms. Masterson, do you happen to know anything about it?"

"That's been there forever," the woman – Rick realized she was Darragh Masterson – said. "We think it's even from before our ancestors were banished here."

"So some of you are Augments?" the captain asked.

"Fat lotta good it's done us," admitted Kent, "So you can maybe understand a little why we're not so welcoming to you Starfleet types, now, y'hear?"

=/\=

Rick stopped walking – he had been pretending to go somewhere but was more or less just aimlessly wandering one of the corridors of the _Enterprise-E_. "This is bad. The Augment colony isn't supposed to be discovered – well, technically, encountered – at this time. And a mirror Hoberman? Possibly the MU Darragh Masterson, too. You are _supposed_ to be on the other side of the pond, maybe, great, great, however many greats, grandmother. And not born yet, in either universe."

"Who are you talking to?" It was Tamsin, taking yet another break.

"Just the Ghosts of the Future Yet to Come."

She shrugged and left him standing there.


	14. 14-Unravelings

"Ms. Masterson," Picard finally said, "we understand your hesitation. But I am rather curious. We have noticed some anomalous energy readings in the area. Might you have any idea what is causing that?"

EK interjected, "The remains of the old gravimetric spheres still give off all sorts of weird readings, even though they were destroyed around 200 years ago."

"No, it's not that." Darragh nudged him. "I get the feeling it's something else, because I know you and your kind have been sniffing around here for years. You never go in that far, at least, not until now. So what gives?"

"Your associate," Picard stated, "he isn't from here. Perhaps you aren't, either. But that doesn't matter. We are of the belief that the odd readings brought him here. It's time for you to go back, Mister, eh …"

"Hoberman," Dana interjected.

"How the hell do you know me, girlie?"

"Someone a lot like you – he and I went out for a while." Dana glanced down for a second, as a brief flash had caught her attention. It was a notification of an incoming internal message. Trying not to let it distract her, she hit a quick switch to see who was calling. It was Rick.

"Now, I can almost buy that," EK allowed, "but the rest of it? Seriously, what you're talking about is ridiculous. I want some of what you people are smoking, eh, Darragh?"

"Heh, right," she bolstered his argument, such as it was. "We are natives. I don't know where you're getting your ideas, but they're dead wrong."

"We can prove it," Picard offered. "We can meet you in a neutral locale and prove that he doesn't belong in this universe, and perhaps you don't, either, Ms. Masterson. In the meantime, kindly deliver the coordinates to the neutral location of your choice and arrange a time with our helmsman, Mr. Crusher. Picard out."

M'Belle nodded and the image of Darragh Masterson and EK Hoberman disappeared from the front view screen. Picard turned to Wesley. "Give us at least three hours, no matter where they wish to meet us."

"They've got to know we can go a lot faster than that to any part of the Expanse," Wesley pointed out.

"Tell them that navigation is difficult in the Expanse, and this is under my direct order – but don't volunteer that, unless asked. Tell me the time immediately."

"Where will you be, sir?"

"In the first available conference room we can get. Madden, MacKenzie, you're with me. M'Belle, you have command. Have Tamsin Porter and Michael Daniels join us. Oh, and Richard Daniels, Geordi LaForge and B-4, too."

"Yes, sir." The Caitian worked to do his bidding.

Dana finally answered Rick's call as she strode with Marty and Picard to the meeting. "MacKenzie here. Rick, what's going on?"

"I'm about to tell you."

"Well, you're in luck. There's a meeting, and we're both invited."

"Oh?" he asked. "Who else is coming?" Once she'd told him the guest list, he requested, "If you could, please, have the captain add Yi'imspi and Guinan to the list, and I've got a longer list of people to add – I'll send you a note on your PADD. I'll explain when we're all together. This is important."

"Got it." She ended the communicator call and said to Picard, "Rick has asked for a few more people to be added to the guest list. He says it's important."

"Very well," replied Picard.

"It'll be standing room only," Marty observed as they rushed to the meeting. He wasn't kidding.

It was one of the larger conference rooms on board, but it was still mighty crowded. "What the hell is he doing here?" snapped Yi'imspi as soon as she saw Rick. "Don't you know he's the enemy, Captain?"

Picard just answered, "I suggest that an open mind be a requirement for everyone in here." He glanced over briefly at Dana and Marty, who were standing near the back. The door opened and Tamsin and Geordi walked in and came over to them.

There were a few moments as the rest of the guests arrived. It was nearly forty people from Dana's prime timeline team, plus the known members of the Doug Hayes family, with Picard, B-4, and Guinan. As Marty waited, he glanced at his PADD, which was flashing with an incoming message. He looked at it for a second and then blanched. It was a copy of the Federation's Incest Law, with the second cousin provisions oh so helpfully highlighted. He glared at Tamsin. "You're on thin ice," he warned her.

"Not as thin as yours," she replied coolly.

"Tamsin," Geordi cautioned, "whatever it is, it's got to wait. I think this meeting is going to be a lot more important."

Once everyone was there, and all of the other seats were taken and the standees were all crowded together, Picard sat at the head of a table and just asked Rick, "Mr. Daniels, what the devil is going on?"

"I –"

"You need to come completely clean, and right now, this very instant," the captain insisted. "No holds barred."

Rick nodded. "Very well." He glanced around the room for a second before continuing. "There is a Temporal Cold War going on. There are numerous factions, all vying for supremacy. They're playing a kind of tug of war with the timeline."

"But why here, and why now?" the captain pressed. "Is there an importance to this year, or to the _Enterprise-E_?"

"Eh, not exactly. Let me start from the beginning, all right?" All eyes were on the professional time traveler as he spoke. "Forget the war for a moment, because the only reason they're interested in the here and the now is because of something that happened less than a week ago. So let me tell you about the prime timeline, and what happened with it, that caused this. Because, you see, and you might have even suspected this, but certain things are beginning to unravel."

"How bad is it?" asked Picard.

"It can be fixed. I just have to find the origination point. And I'm pretty sure I have."

"Do go on," encouraged the captain.

"In the prime timeline, Dana and Marty own a sports team, and she owns a ship. The ship's got interesting tech on it, and so there's an interest from outside parties. An operative is sent in, to observe the tech, maybe even to steal it."

"Section 31?" asked the captain.

"Possibly. That person either does something or is close by when it happens – although my money is on them being the culprit. There's a temporal shockwave, and that displaces all 105 people on board. Even the ship is flung out of there – wherever they were at the time. A fairly large number of those people end up temporally connected to Dana, and possibly to Marty, or even to Wesley Crusher."

"Why Wesley?" asked Marty.

"He's one of the 105 people on the ship. There are also M'Belle and some others, like Darren Shaw here, and Grosk, and Yi'imspi," Rick explained, gesturing wildly. "See, the Temporal Cold War exists anyway, but once this act occurs, it ignites an interest in this time period that hadn't existed before. Add in the radiation band cycling – I know not everyone here knows about that, but bear with me, please – and you've got a time period that's all too attractive for Temporal Cold Warriors."

"What do they do?" asked Dana.

"They go to time periods and try to jigger things one way or the other. One of the factions is in the Mirror Universe. See, I think they're the ones who brought the MU Masterson and Hoberman over. For them, pushing and possibly opening up any Augment front is helpful. Never mind that the Augments don't look too threatening right now. When you're a Temporal Cold Warrior, you're thinking of the long-term big picture."

"So that's the effect, but what's the cause?" Marty pressed.

"Dana's ship has – her and Wesley and her sports team don't know this in the prime timeline – a dark matter collector and a primitive dark matter drive. Those things allow for time travel. But this one wasn't calibrated right. Hence the shockwave."

"So whodunit?" asked Dana. "Who flipped the wrong switch? I'm guessing there are 105 suspects."

"Unless someone else beamed aboard your ship," Picard pointed out. He turned to Rick. "Do you know the answer to her inquiry?"

"I had to think about it. Here," he clicked on his PADD, and an image was projected onto a view screen in the room. It was a schematic. "This is Dana's ship, the _Cookie_. Anyone in Engineering ended up here, on the _Enterprise-E_. In fact, the radius," here he drew on his PADD's screen with a finger, and the effect was like a Telestrator, "goes up to here, I believe. Anyone outside this radius seems to have ended up elsewhere in this alternate timeline. This is why the ship's doctor, the pilot, and the Communications Officer – among others – aren't here. That narrows down our suspect list by over one-half. Now for the trickier parts. Of the remaining people, who's the most likely suspect?"

Shaw, one of the people in the room, commented, "Why are we here? Dana and Tamsin asked me some questions the other day, about whether I felt like I belonged here. I take it that's related to all this."

"It is," Dana confirmed. "Rick, there are a lot of balls in the air, and there are a good forty or so suspects, I thinking now. So I repeat – whodunit?"

"I'm getting there. Computer," he addressed his PADD, "find anyone on the list of temporally displaced individuals who ended up on the _Enterprise-E_ and who had a bunk outside the temporal shockwave radius." After a few moments, his PADD chimed with the results. "Ah and there it is. See, the shockwave occurred in the middle of the night. Most people were in their bunks and were sleeping. If you lived on the other side of the ship, the temporal shockwaves shot you somewhere else. But it says here that Darren Shaw, Grosk, Dana, Yi'imspi, Wesley Crusher, M'Belle, and Dathan were all in the wrong place. To my mind, that means they were awake. Now, there could have been others, because if you lived on the right side of the ship, there's no reason why you couldn't also be awake. But let's start with these seven contestants." He thought for a moment. "In the prime timeline, Shaw is a guy who had washed out of the MACOs and failed at any number of regular professions. While he might have had motivation to steal the technology, I doubt he would have had a buyer. At least, no one among the prime timeline Federation's allies, and we're not talking about someone with obscure contacts. Plus Shaw was a loyal guy. I'd put him in the _not guilty_ bucket, at least for now."

"Man," Shaw commented, "aside from not being guilty, my life in this so-called prime timeline doesn't sound so great. Mind if I stay here when you change it?" That got a bit of a chuckle from the assembly.

Rick just ignored the comment. "Now, Wesley was there because I suspect he was either on duty, or was closing up for the night. Like any other active ship, the _Cookie_ needed regular maintenance and monitoring. His presence in the radius is completely understandable. Dana's probably there for understandable reasons as well. After all, she's the captain. While she has the means and the contacts to sell any piece of the tech, she's trying to go straight. Plus why this, and why now? That leaves us with Grosk, Yi'imspi, Dathan, and M'Belle."

"M'Belle is currently in command," Picard said. "I trust her implicitly."

"People can be quite different in the prime timeline. All four are athletes. But only one has an Engineering background. That person also studied languages, and can speak several, even without a Universal Translator to back them up. That's quite useful if you have to go to a pre-Warp civilization or the power is out or you just can't risk being caught with any sort of Federation hardware."

"Indeed," Picard remarked.

"That person," Rick continued, "also had studied these languages at a guard training program offered at Canamar Prison. That's kind of fishy because, in the prime timeline, Dana is an ex-con, and was held there. This person may have had at least part of a hand in observing her, or at least there's the connection. And so the people who hired this person had bolstered confidence in him or her."

"How very interesting," Dana interjected.

"That person," Rick added, "is playing both sides against the middle, and is engaging in dealings with the Mirror Universe. I believe Section 31 hired this person." He glanced at his PADD. "And it looks like a hack and a decryption command I made have delivered preliminary findings. I can tell everyone what it says. Or would you care to do the honors, Yi'imspi?"


	15. 15-Connections

Carmen had waited long enough, she figured, so she ended up waking herself up. "That's a bloody perfect time for you to turn unreliable, Richard." Headache more or less gone, she spent some time using her PADD to take images of her own ration card and the picture of Charlie Eleven that Jenn had given her. "This would be a lot easier, and considerably more believable, if I had access to the _Audrey_ 's replicator," she groused. After nearly an hour's worth of work, she was satisfied.

With nowhere else to go, she headed to the big Calafan market to try to find Jenn Porter and, hopefully, also the deposed head of the late Terran Empire. And, if she was lucky, not run into Yi'imspi again.

=/\=

"Well?" Picard asked the Calafan.

"Not in front of all of these people," she replied in a stage whisper.

"All right." The captain raised his voice a bit. "Mister Shaw, Grosk, Dathan, you and most of the others are dismissed. Keep in mind that the entirety of this meeting is confidential. The consequences will be dire for your careers if you reveal anything about this gathering." He took a breath. "The only people required to remain are," he considered the matter briefly, "B-4, Mister Madden, Ms. MacKenzie, Guinan, Mister LaForge, both Mister Daniels's, Miss Porter, and of course myself and Yi'imspi."

Everyone filed out except for the ten named people. There was a communications chime, and the captain answered it. "Yes, Mister Crusher? Ceti Alpha V? Very well, thank you." He cut the connection.

Yi'imspi still seemed to be reluctant to speak. "I want you to understand," she began, "that I am under orders. And I'm rather skeptical by nature. I don't believe this talk of alternate timelines. After all, who's to say that our current situation isn't the correct one? Rick Daniels might be pushing us into a timeline that suits his own agenda."

"But you do buy into time travel, right?" Dana asked. "I mean, it's been proven for over a century."

"Of course I do. But Rick Daniels isn't even necessarily a time traveler at all. Plus, as I said, there is every possibility that what he claims to be the correct future simply isn't. Tell me," she said to him, "how is it even remotely possible that you know what the changes even are? Wouldn't they look as perfectly normal to you as they do to us? And as for the changes, I can almost buy that this, this device …."

"It was a dark matter collector and flying mechanism."

"Dark matter collector and flying mechanism, then – I can almost see where it would have the potential to effect changes. Maybe. But you! I mean, how can you change anything?"

Rick sighed. She was engaging in a diversionary tactic, to be sure, but it was a legitimate question. He could see from Dana and Marty and Picard's faces that they were thinking something similar. But he would have to launch into the big explanation. "It's like this. It's all about the decision nodes. Timelines can and do change when they're altered. Change your mind, change a timeline."

"Then that would make for, I am thinking, more universes – in theory, at least – than there are known stars," Geordi opined.

"There's actually even more than that. Some of these decisions are purely binary. You got up this morning. Tell me, Geordi," Rick asked, "did you take your first step of the day with your right foot, or your left?"

"I have no idea. Does it matter?"

"Of course it doesn't," Rick said, "but it's still a decision, even if it's a minor one that you don't even make consciously. Consider what are probably an infinite number of timelines and universes. Let's say you're in – and you are recognizably yourself – in a trillion of them. In 40 percent of them, you start your day with a left footstep. In 40 percent of them, you start off on the right foot. And in the remaining 20 percent, you don't step at all. Maybe you just lie in bed, and you're too lazy or sick or injured or tired to move. Or you don't have legs, or you never did. Or humans don't propel themselves forward that way at all, and instead you walk on your hands, or roll around on your belly."

"So Geordi gets off on the right foot in 400 billion timelines," Dana summarized. "So there are other differences at play, then."

"Right you are," Rick praised. "The 400 billion figure is purely arbitrary, of course. But we can still use it, in order to judge relative scale. Now let's look at something a lot less binary. What was breakfast yesterday?"

"Now you're asking the really tough questions," Geordi joked.

"You can make something up," Rick told him.

"Okay. I had a Western omelet, eggs whites only, side of home fries and bacon. Black coffee to drink."

"Here we've got a lot more variables," Rick pointed out. "Cream for the coffee, or milk, or skim, or half and half – that's just one of several decisions that Geordi made in what should be a fairly simple matter."

"But those decisions don't matter!" Tamsin whined a little. "This is meaningless!"

Picard shot her a look, but Rick quickly interjected, "Actually, you're 100 percent correct. None of that stuff matters. A universe where Geordi's home fries are cut slightly wider than in our own? Well, that universe, for all intents and purposes, is identical to ours. A timeline where he cuts his omelet from the left side of his plate versus here, where he starts on his right? You guessed it; the alteration is utterly meaningless. Nobody cares, right? Technically, the timeline or the universe differs, but the difference is so slight and so trivial that it ends up being just one big cosmic yawn. We call those _otric_ changes."

"I have never heard this term before," the captain admitted.

"It's an eponym, named after a colleague of mine named Otra D'Angelo. Now, let's move a step up. Mike, here's a question for you."

"Uh, all right."

"Let's say you've got two girlfriends," Rick posited.

"Just what kind of a universe are you running?"

"A fun one, apparently," Guinan quipped.

"Yep," Rick confirmed. "Let's say you get serious, and you decide you want to get married. There's probably going to be a significant difference in your life if you marry Susan instead of Beth, right?"

"Of course, even if they're identical twins."

"Exactly. This decision is a meaningful one, although it might lose its meaning over time, particularly if you don't have any children. But if you're a very important person like, say, the President of the Federation, then this sort of a decision can be a vital one. It might even determine whether you're elected to the Federation presidency at all. But this significant change can still be made by us mere mortals. It's what's called a _pariotric_ change."

"So that's the in-between stuff," Marty stated. "I take it there's something bigger out there?"

"Absolutely," replied Rick. "We've got Baby Bear and Mama Bear – Goldilocks, if you want to get technical, I suppose – and so now along comes Papa Bear. These very large changes cannot be effected by people. Or, at least, they can't without a boatload of work. These are things like the Industrial Revolution, the extinction of the dinosaurs, and World War III. As you might expect, these are called _megaotric_ changes."

"So there are differing degrees," Yi'imspi said, "but that still doesn't explain how you can see these changes at all, or you can effect them and not accidentally snuff out your own existence."

"There must be some sort of a protective field," Dana opined.

"That's exactly it," Rick confirmed. "I'm not authorized to give you the specifics. But the general theory has to do with ionizing radiation."

"And chronitons, I'm willing to bet," Geordi interjected.

"I'm not at liberty to say," Rick stated, although he knew that the engineer was on the right track.

"I'm still not seeing any proof that you are who you say you are," Yi'imspi pointed out.

"Well, you're apparently not what you seem to be, either," Picard stated. "It's high time you ceased beating about the bush and came clean as well."

"Tell them about your training," Rick prompted.

"I'm an engineer."

"That's not all you are." As the professional time traveler made the accusation, Marty moved ever so slightly closer to Dana. "Tell me," Rick asked, "why did you learn a bunch of languages? We've got perfectly good universal translators during this time period."

"I like studying languages."

"Maybe you do. But the technology is perfect. This would be for if it fails – or in places where it can't be used. Gee, I wonder where those might be," Rick said. "And why, exactly, did you get your training from a prison guard program at Canamar?"

"It's where the courses were offered! I don't decide such things."

"Surely these classes could have been taught elsewhere," Picard said. "You could have studied at home, even."

"I like to learn in a classroom environment."

"But these classes were taught at the prison itself," Rick clarified. "And it's a pretty unpleasant place to be, even when you are free to leave at any time. Tell us – who were you meeting there, Yi'imspi?"

"I'll get to the bottom of this," Picard vowed. He tapped his communicator pin to activate it. "Yes; I'd like to be connected with Admiral Alynna Nechayev." There was a pause. "Admiral, yes, I'm having a rather interesting discussion with my night shift engineer, Yi'imspi. She's got a rather curious background. Tell me, Admiral, do you know her, by chance?"

As Picard was talking, Rick glanced at his PADD for a second. There was a silent message that the _Audrey_ 's computers were almost done breaking Section 31's encryption. Just in time.

Picard nodded at Dana, who threw a switch on the room's desktop computer unit, thereby adding a visual element to the communication and increasing the volume. The admiral's face appeared on a small screen on the desktop unit, which was located in the center of the table.

"Not everyone in your meeting has sufficient clearance for me to respond," the admiral stated.

"Admiral," Rick said, "I am from the 32nd century, and I am here to tell you that clearance and protocols right now don't amount to a hill of beans. This is an alternate timeline, and it's a fairly well screwed up one. There is a Temporal Cold War going on, and the actions of _your_ agent attracted their attention. And they've now brought the Mirror Universe into play – and that never should have happened in the first place."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"What I am saying is that there are factions in the Temporal Cold War that would have no qualms whatsoever about acting like Fifth Columnists and opening up the door and allowing the Mirror Universe to invade."

"Invade? But the government in exile was to be appeased by our acts."

"Appeased?" Picard asked. "Just what the devil is going on?"

"A moment", Nechayev said, and she fiddled with some controls. There was now a split screen, and the other side showed the face of the head of Section 31, Admiral Harriet Caul.

"What's going on?" Caul asked.

"I've just posed the identical question," Picard reported. "It would appear that there is some espionage afoot. Admiral Caul, is Yi'imspi your agent?"

Caul stared straight at them, and held onto her poker face. "What is it that you're asking, Captain?"

There was a _ding_ , and they all hunted for their PADDs. "It's mine," Rick said, checking. He gazed at the head of Section 31. "My computer has hacked into your database. It doesn't matter how you answer. I know the truth either way."

"Hacked?" asked Caul. "That's impossible."

"Under the current state of technology, yes. But I don't have the current state of technology. Now, do you want me to start reading, or do you want to start talking?" Caul paused, so he threw in, "It's all about Yi'imspi's recruitment, but it's also about how you've been skirting a treaty – and even breaking it, at times – in order to get your hands on reliable cloaking technology."

"Cloaking?" asked Marty. "That's a violation of the Treaty of Algeron!"

"Admiral Caul, Admiral Nechayev," said Picard, "this is wrong. The _Enterprise-E_ and her crew will not be a party to this, if anything that Richard Daniels says is at all true."

"He's bluffing," Yi'imspi claimed.

"No, _you_ are," Rick declared.

=/\=

On the Mirror Lafa II, Carmen came to a realization. "I've got to contact you, mission or no mission." She was back in the same alley near the big Calafan market. Fortunately, no one else seemed to be around. She had a dark matter flare on her person, a small device that superficially resembled a black Christmas cracker. She aimed it at a wall and broke the flare. There was the slightest of clicks, but nothing more. "That'd best be it."

On the _Enterprise-E_ , Rick heard a trill in his ear. "Just a sec." He tapped his ear to answer the call. "Carmen? Is everything all right?"

"Sorry to tug on the emergency line, but I've got some news. I was threatened by a silver Calafan. We might lose our dream conduit."

"I see. What was the name of that silver Calafan?" As he asked a question, he hit a few buttons on his PADD, and Carmen's voice could be heard by the others in the room.

"Yi'imspi."


	16. 16-Erstwhile Paradise

"Well, now, isn't _that_ interesting?" Dana asked pointedly.

"You actually believe any of this? How the hell did you ever get to head up Tactical anyway? You're so gullible," the Calafan sniped.

"Hey!" Marty protested. "I don't recall discipline breaking down, or basic manners."

B-4 had been standing off to one side, quiet, observing the goings-on. The android spoke. "All of the parties are asking for the others to believe some fairly odd things. There are deviations from what is believed to be the truth. These deviations are rather radical in nature. If we believe Richard Daniels, then the Admirals and Section 31 are in breach of the Treaty of Algeron. If we believe Yi'imspi, then it would appear that Daniels and his associate, this Carmen, are potentially agents of the Mirror Universe. Since we have observed the Mirror Kent Hoberman, it would appear that there is some means or another of transporting humans or Terrans which is independent of ion storms and wormholes, and, perhaps, even spore hub drives."

"Right," Picard said, "do go on."

Marty moved even closer to Dana, and quietly and surreptitiously put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and smiled a little as Tamsin fumed.

"This begs the question, however," B-4 continued, "as to what this transportation method is, and how it was invented. A suitable device evidently exists on the _Cookie_ , but it was not calibrated properly. At least, that is what Daniels has said. Absent this device, there do not seem to be any other methods for achieving transuniversal transportation. What is the likelihood that so many parties would avail themselves of a device on an unknown ship in an unknown location? Those odds are several trillion to one. Further, Yi'imspi has admitted to studying a number of languages, yet her specialty on the _Enterprise-E_ is in engineering. The study of multiple languages is generally only useful, at the present time, for archaeological study. Or, it is used for espionage."

"Anything else?" asked the captain.

"Carmen, do you have anything?" Rick asked.

"Yes, I do," Carmen said. "Yi'imspi pulled a phaser on me. Plus I've been observing Charlie Eleven and his helper, Jenn Porter. There is an independent source of funds, I am sure of it. I'll bet my eye teeth that those funds are Calafan. Tell me, Yi'imspi, what's in it for you if Charlie Eleven is restored to power? And, if he bashes his way through, as he seems to think he can, what's the benefit on your end?"

Nervous glances were exchanged all around. "B-4," Marty asked, "when you tested all of the humans on board for our radiation bands, did you check any of the non-humans?"

"I tested all human and part-human members of the crew."

Catching on, Dana asked, "Does Yi'imspi have any human blood in her?"

"Records indicate that she does not," replied the android.

"So she was never tested," Geordi concluded.

"Perform the test now," Picard commanded.

Yi'imspi shrank back a little as the android touched her. A moment later, he was ready with his findings. "I must report an anomalous finding," the android said. "While Yi'imspi's appearance is that of a silver Calafan from the prime universe, that would assure that her radiation band could only be 21 centimeters. However – and I have just now performed two diagnostics, so my finding is confirmed – her radiation band is **_twenty centimeters._** "

"You're really copper, then," concluded Rick. "I take it your time at Canamar wasn't confined to just linguistic studies. You were having surgery done."

"No, it wasn't then," Caul reported. "We, we sent her to language school there, yes. I can admit that. But we did not send her into or authorize any surgeries. That must have happened before, for I have only known Yi'imspi to be a silver Calafan, from our universe."

Yi'imspi had on a wrist communicator – no one had, apparently, noticed it before as it looked like a bit of cuff jewelry. She began to speak into it rapidly, in Calafan. Dana, Marty, and Rick were the closest, and they must have all had the same idea, for they jumped her as a transporter beam enveloped all four of them.

"Where the hell did Martin go?" Tamsin blurted out.

"No place that's at all good," Geordi opined.

They landed on the dirt floor of a mean hut, a place with few amenities. Dana shoved Yi'imspi off her and struggled to her feet, and then helped up Marty, and then Rick. And then she turned, and looked straight into the face of EK Hoberman.

"Hey, girlie. I don't normally get 'em delivered on a silver platter." He grinned and looked her up and down, and his eyes did not linger on her face.

Darragh Masterson smacked him on the arm. "Focus, ya bum!"

"What is this place?" asked Marty, ignoring their exchange.

"In one timeline, this place was called _Paradise_ ," Rick explained. "But right now, it's Ceti Alpha V, if I'm not mistaken. And it's home to the last remnant of the Augments." He tapped on his PADD a little.

"And, apparently," Dana interjected, "some Mirror folks."

There was a console nearby, the controls for the ancient transporter. Beneath their feet, there was but one pad, although it was wider than the style of the time period.

"This technology is from the time of the old _NX-01_ ," Marty stated, "it belongs in a museum."

"We don't have access to the same supermarket of technology that you've got," Darragh explained.

"What's in it for you? For all of you?" Dana asked, point blank. "Although I suppose I can understand her motivation." She gestured vaguely at Yi'imspi.

"When the Terran Emperor is restored," Yi'imspi explained, "the riches will be immense. Your universe will crumble under our heel."

"And you?" Marty asked Darragh. "Are you from the Mirror, too?"

"I'm not," Darragh admitted. "But the Federation hasn't treated us well at all."

"People like you were a threat," Rick pointed out. But their surroundings hardly seemed to belong to anyone who could possibly be seen as a threat. This was poverty, writ large, even though the Federation was past money and technically it was impossible for anyone to be truly poor. The people of Ceti Alpha V had, apparently, not gotten that particular memo.

"How did _you_ get here?" Dana asked EK.

"I was just minding my own business, when I was just brought here, girlie."

"A transporter? Is this like what happened over the Halkon home world back in 2267?" asked Marty, referring to the first officially known transuniversal crossing since the time of Doug Hayes.

"No, I mean, literally, I was there and then I was suddenly here. I wasn't even in the counterpart to this godforsaken system."

"You must've been hit by the same temporal shockwave," Rick surmised. "Although it's interesting that you remember at least some of it. This timeline was caused by a tug on the space-time continuum, which in turn caused a temporal shockwave. It threw a ton of people all around the galaxy, including Dana and Yi'imspi here. I didn't realize it had crossed the two universes, too. This changes things."

"So the device on the _Cookie_ , it gets activated," Dana said, "and it causes _all_ of this mischief? You mentioned," she said to Yi'imspi, "the restoration of the Terran Empire. Does the activation of the device have anything at all to do with that?"

"It doesn't, actually. Charlie Eleven is deposed either way. But I'm thinking," Rick added, "that the restoration would be in Darragh, EK, and Yi'imspi's best interests. At least, that is how _they_ would see it. For Yi'imspi it would be for wealth – and possibly power. For Darragh, I'm assuming you're looking to leave this rock?"

"Of course I am. What joker named this place _Paradise_ , anyway?"

"Before Khan got to the Ceti Alpha System, before a small black hole hit, it really _was_ a paradise," the time traveler explained. "Now it's just a wasteland. Such a pity – people traveled from the Delphic Expanse – back then it was bigger, and made it their home and loved it and grew crops on it. They even got married here and buried their dead. Not anymore. It's sad, really."

"Hmph." She shrugged.

"As for EK," Rick continued, "I'm guessing you're seeing it as a ticket home."

"A bit of the old filthy lucre would be nice, too," EK admitted.

"So your motives aren't the purest," Dana observed.

"Why do you care? I'm just looking out for _me_ , girlie. Is my counterpart some sort of, I dunno, noble guy?"

"He's okay, nothing too fantastic, I admit. But at least he's not a selfish jerk."

"Hey, I'm a product of my environment – just like you are, I'll bet. You don't want me to show a sign of weakness like generosity, now, would ya? I'd be eaten alive, back on the other side of the pond."

"Sign of weakness?" Dana asked.

"It's their code of conduct, such as it is," Rick explained. He looked at them all. "I want to know, Yi'imspi, who is subsidizing you? I'm sure neither you nor Porter is working for free, and God knows Charlie Eleven hasn't got the funds."

"He doesn't have a name, or even too much of a face," said the Calafan.

"What does that even mean?" Marty asked.

"Is it that he's a shapeshifter or someone else who normally wouldn't have a face or anything well-defined, or is it that you have never clearly seen him?" Rick asked.

"He's kinda shadowy," Darragh explained.

"What do you call him?" Rick pressed.

"He never said his name, so we just say, ' _Future Guy_ '," EK said.

"Horan, huh, and maybe even Green," Rick muttered under his breath.

"Who are they?" Dana asked.

"One of the temporal factions – and they wouldn't mind seeing a strong Terran Empire, but they were never pegged as people who'd sell out this universe and welcome a transuniversal invasion."

"Maybe they do now, what with the altered timeline," Marty offered.

"Possibly," Rick allowed. "I may have to pay a visit at some point." He stared at Yi'imspi. "You're not off the hook. In the meantime, I need to get the full lowdown on what you're doing, and why."

"Why should I tell you?" she asked. "I'm still not convinced that you've got anything positive to offer me."

"Why should you tell me? Because you're being used," Rick said. "You may not even realize it, but the Temporal Cold War factions are moving you around like chess pieces on a board. Whatever you think you might be doing for yourself, or for Charlie Eleven or the greater glory of the Terran Empire, or whatever? Heh, I hate to break it to you," Rick advised, "but everything you do, you do it for _them._ "

"You may have noticed that I don't believe a word you're saying," Yi'imspi sniffed.

"What about the rest of you?" Dana asked. "EK, lemme tell ya, I know your counterpart would never, ever wanna live his life as somebody else's pawn. But hey, if _you_ want to, I'm not stopping you." She shrugged, affecting nonchalance.

"I don't take orders from nobody, girlie."

"Hey!" Darragh protested.

"Well I don't. I mean, I do what you want voluntarily, baby," EK said to Darragh. "But I'll be damned if I'll be used."

She looked back at him, and seemed to come to a decision. "When you got here, when, when you just sort of fell out of the sky – almost – it was crazy and kind of funny, and then Future Guy started calling us. Do you remember?"

"Sure I do," EK confirmed. "We thought that what he said made sense. At least, for us, it did. We could be rescued off these rocks – these systems are small and they are kinda remote. You had said it was called Paradise here. But as you can see, it's far from it. We'd like to be wealthy, sure. But the main thing is, and you gotta see it just by looking around this dump, we both just wanna be outta here. Can you do that?" he asked Rick.

"When the line's restored," Rick promised, "you won't be here. The truth is; most of the players will move when that happens."

"What's to stop the Temporal Cold War faction from just doing it all again?" asked Marty.

Rick looked around, perhaps a little furtively. He was saved by a Communications chime. "Yeah, Masterson here," Darragh answered. There was a pause. "It's your people. They're in orbit."

Dana pulled on Rick's sleeve. She whispered to him, "There's something you can't tell us." He nodded slightly. "Can you tell Marty and me?" There was another tiny nod.

EK fiddled with some controls, and the message was shared and became audible to all. The image was projected onto a blank wall. It was Picard's face on the screen. He was in the conference room, still, and it seemed that the same crowd was behind him. "Are you all right, MacKenzie and Madden? Crewman Daniels?"

"Just dandy," Dana said.

"We're beaming a radiation band tester to your coordinates right now. Stand by," Picard said.

The article – a wand – appeared on the transporter pad. Dana picked it up and ran it over EK's arm. As expected, it registered as precisely 20 centimeters, signifying that 100% of his parentage was from the Mirror Universe. A check of Darragh Masterson, however, revealed something rather different – **20.9999962%.**

In confusion, and perhaps a bit of terror, Darragh looked at them as the results were displayed. "What does this mean?"

"It means – and it confirms – something that I wish wasn't happening," Rick said. "It means there's an extra branch of the family, an extra generation, where there wasn't one before. My records were unclear about you, and now I know why. This is yet another temporal dislocation."


	17. 17-Hostages

"So if I understand you correctly," Picard stated, "Ms. Masterson isn't meant to exist at all? Is that correct?"

Darragh glared at Rick. "If you think you're gonna just waltz in here and change the timeline, and just kill me, then you've got another think coming."

"Not kill – although I guess it would be all the same to you," Dana attempted to explain. "If I understand Rick correctly, you're never supposed to have existed in the first place. Is that right?"

"It's not, actually. See, Darragh _is_ supposed to exist. But she's in the wrong time period." Changing tack, he asked her, "How old are you anyway, Darragh?"

"32."

"Oh, yeah, that's wrong," Rick said, checking his PADD. "You're not supposed to be born yet. Hell, one of your sets of grandparents, they aren't even together yet."

"How would you know that?" Geordi asked, peeking his head into the communication from the _Enterprise-E._

"I, er," Rick sighed. "Can I handle this, please? I've got an operative in the Mirror, and I'd really like to have her debrief me."

"I'm not letting you leave," Darragh snarled, "not until you give me some details."

"All in good, heh, time," Rick said. "Please?" he pleaded.

"If you need hostages, keep us," Dana suggested, glancing over at Marty, who nodded.

"All right," EK allowed. He got to the ancient transporter's controls. "One to beam back." Rick disappeared in a shimmer of light.

"Now what?" Dana asked.

"You get to spend some more time with _us,_ girlie."

=/\=

Rick had the means and the desire to divert any transporter beam, and so he did just that, appearing for a millisecond on the _Enterprise-E,_ but then diverting his own matter stream over to the _Audrey Niffenegger_.

He yelled, " _Audrey_ , retrieve Carmen from the Mirror, no matter where she is, on my authorization. Do it as soon as possible."

 _Energizing now._

Carmen appeared. "Thanks for that; the Mirror is an awful place. Now, that's the matter?"

"I found Darragh Masterson."

"So?"

"So I didn't have a handle on her at all. The DNA doesn't match, and the time period's all wrong. She couldn't be found by _Audrey_ or my PADD."

"How come?"

"Because, Carmen, she's not supposed to be born yet."

"Wonderful," Carmen replied sarcastically. "When is her true time period?"

"She's supposed to be born in 2440. She is also supposed to be Dana and Marty's granddaughter."

"Bloody hell. That stupid anti-incest law! We've got to get them back so they can help get it repealed."

"Just like they're supposed to – and along the way, somebody spiked Darragh Masterson with a little Augment DNA. That's why she wasn't picked up on the scan."

"No wonder she's here," Carmen mused. "All right, so Charlie Eleven is quiet for the nonce, but let's not forget his little part in this scheme. What he and Jenn Porter are doing is laying out a bloody welcome mat to the Temporal Cold Warriors."

"And then – I'm guessing – it's not going fast enough, so they tamper with Darragh and slide that chess piece into a far different slot. Plus Yi'imspi had to have raised the initial alarm, by setting off the dark matter collector and the pulse shot in the first place."

"Right, that seems to be the case," Carmen conceded. "This faction seems hell-bent on denying you your existence, Richard."

"Yeah, I suppose that's so. I just wish," he sighed, "that it didn't drag my mother and sister into it."

"But your family is unaffected so far, right?"

"So far," Rick said. "I'm just glad I'm protected by the temporal field. They can tamper with my mother's ancestry all they want, but I'll still be here."

"And I'm glad of that. Otherwise, I'd be bloody talking to myself right about now."

"The field's a great invention. I just wish my own mother was protected."

"And then there's your father!"

"Of course," he sighed again. "He is unaffected by these shenanigans – more or less – but still without my mother. He's a broken man in this reality. I hate seeing that. And if they keep in this time period and target Mike and Tamsin? Then he'll be hit, too."

"I imagine that's why they went after this particular time period, Richard. Of course, of course, there's the _Cooki_ e and Yi'imspi and Charlie Eleven – I'm not disputing any of those. But that small band of Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett's descendants contains four of your forebears – Tamsin Porter, Michael Daniels, Dana MacKenzie, and Martin Madden. It had to have been irresistible to them."

"You know, Carmen, I bet you're right."

=/\=

On Ceti Alpha V, the five of them looked at each other warily. Marty came closer to Dana, and put his hand on her shoulder again. "You with him?" EK asked, as Darragh whacked him lightly on the arm with the back of her hand.

"He's my second cousin."

"Coulda fooled me," Darragh sniffed.

"Listen, I'm guessing we'll be here for at least a while," Marty suggested, "Why not show us around your base of operations?"

"There's nothing to see," Yi'imspi explained. "This rock hasn't got much to recommend it. Paradise? Ha! I suppose it's paradise if you're a Denebian Slime Devil. Otherwise, not so much."

"But it's all you've got," Dana said. "Are you from here? It looks like Darragh and EK aren't."

"Only by way of a half a dozen way stations," Yi'imspi said.

"Way stations?" asked Dana.

"I bet that's how the Section moves its chess pieces around," Marty speculated. "That way, there's plausible deniability in case someone is caught, or whatever."

"Precisely," the Calafan confirmed. "Now, this is cozy and all, but you're still working to change things, and I can't have that."

"Why not?" Dana asked. "Aren't you an athlete in the true timeline? I'm figuring you set off the thing on the _Cookie_ in the first place. I'm sure you're a Section operative there, too."

"So it's no skin off your nose to go back to the correct timeline," Marty clarified. "It doesn't matter to you, so why not change it back? Or at least work towards that, okay? It is all the same to you."

"Plus it helps them out," Dana pointed her thumb in the general direction of EK and Darragh.

Trying a different tack, Marty added, "It also doesn't seem to matter to that Charlie Eleven guy. And if it doesn't matter to Tamsin Porter, then I'm guessing it doesn't matter to her counterpart, Jenn, either."

"This is pointless," Darragh snarled. She turned to Yi'imspi. "You do not hold my fate in your hands – or anyone else's that matter. You're outvoted."

"You really think we vote in the Mirror?" Yi'imspi retorted, reaching under her skirt and pulling a dagger from a hidden sheath. She brandished it at them. "I march to the beat of my own drummer. And right now, I'm thinking you still haven't done enough to convince me. All I want is Charlie Eleven restored to power. All the rest is just window dressing."

=/\=

On the _Enterprise-E_ , Geordi received a communication and reported to Captain Picard, "We've done three diagnostics. Our equipment is perfectly fine, and he's not in the pattern buffer. Wherever Rick Daniels has flown off to, none of us can find him."

"The only reasonable deduction," B-4 stated, "is that he has a ship somewhere."

"Maybe it's cloaked," Tamsin offered.

"A treaty violation?" Mike asked.

"Maybe not," Geordi stated. "It's entirely possible that the Treaty of Algeron no longer applies during his time period."

Harriet Caul and Alynna Nechayev were still on the line. Nechayev said, "That is a reasonable hypothesis. In the meantime, though, Masterson and Hoberman and Y'imspi are all holding hostage two of our people."

=/\=

As the tense moments ticked by, Marty kept within Yi'imspi's line of sight, endangering himself by standing right in front of her drawn dagger. Out of the corner of his eye – and he fought to not pay attention and thereby give up the game – he could see EK circling behind the Calafan. "Don't do this," Marty said softly. "None of us are worth you becoming a killer."

"What makes you think it's my first time?" snarled the Calafan.

"Then this other time period, the original one, has gotta be better for you," Dana pointed out.

So distracted, Yi'imspi didn't see EK strike. He whacked her hard, on the back of her neck, and she fell like a bag of inert ballast.

Dana dropped to the ground and checked for a pulse. "She's barely alive, so far as I can tell. We need to get her back to the _Enterprise-E_."

"She just tried to kill us all. Why the hell should we lift a finger for her?" Darragh asked.

"Because if I'm reading Rick Daniels right – and I bet Mystic here senses it, too – then he needs to get her motives and her methods down."

"He doesn't seem to have those in his records. If he knows that, then I guess he can better prevent it from happening in the first place," Dana explained as Marty contacted the _Enterprise-E_.

The three of them – Marty, Dana, and a still-unconscious Yi'imspi – were beamed directly to Sick Bay, where Dr. Crusher was waiting for them.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Blow to the back of the neck," Dana explained. She and Marty retreated to a corner of Sick Bay and stayed out of the way as the doctor did her work.

"What'll happen if she dies?" Marty asked Dana.

"I guess Rick will try again."

"Again? Just how many times has he done this?"

"I think this is lucky number thirteen," she said. "Wait, I told you this already."

"Right; I've got too much on my mind," he admitted.

Beverly Crusher looked up. "She'll be all right," she announced, as Dana and Marty were suddenly and unexpectedly beamed away. "Security!" she yelled as she hit the communicator pin on her uniform top, "Someone just beamed away MacKenzie and Madden!"

=/\=

They rematerialized inside a futuristic ship, where Richard Daniels was standing next to a brunette that neither of them had met before. "What the hell happened here?" Dana asked.

"This is my ship," Rick explained, "the _Audrey Niffenegger_. And standing next to me is my boss, Admiral Carmen Calavicci."

"Where is this ship? We don't have anything on sensors," Marty admitted as he shook hands with Carmen and then Dana did likewise.

" _Audrey_ 's got a lovely cloaking system," Carmen explained.

"I guess the Treaty of Algeron is no more during your time period," Dana speculated.

"When dangerous technologies like cloaks are made safe," Rick explained, "treaties like that start to come down."

"So nobody knows where we are. That is not gonna go over well," Dana said.

"Not to worry – we'll just put you back to the same moment in time," Carmen said.

"That's convenient," Marty commented.

"You had things you didn't want to tell the others," Dana said, getting down to brass tacks.

"We didn't originally want to say," Carmen began, "but we've done this too many times already."

"I wanna hear from you first," Rick said. "What did you find out about Yi'imspi?"

"She just seems to be money-driven," Marty said. "She wants Charlie Eleven restored because she's expecting some big payday."

"Then that's another alteration," Carmen said. "In the correct timeline, Charlie Eleven remains in exile, but they wed."

"But that's not necessarily mutually exclusive," Dana pointed out. "So is the Terran Empire ever restored?"

"During Darragh Masterson's lifetime," Rick said. "Her _real_ lifetime," he hastened to add. "It happens in 2516. Huh. So we may or may not know why she fired the pulse shot in the first place. What we really need to do is get the Temporal Cold War factions out of this time period. Because they'll come back, even if we fix things, if they think there's an advantage to be gained here."

"So they could come back," Dana mused. "Why is this time period so special to them in the first place?"

Carmen and Rick looked at each other. He spoke, "They're trying to erase _**me**_ from history. See, we're protected by a temporal force field. But they're trying anyway."

"And …?" Marty prompted.

"And what Richard isn't telling you," Carmen explained, "is that four of his ancestors are on the _Enterprise-E_ during this time period. And so this faction must see this situation as being their best opportunity."

"Who are your ancestors?" Dana asked.

"I'm also a descendant of Doug Hayes," Rick explained. "Just like Mike, Tamsin, and the two of you – my four ancestors."

"So, wait, Marty marries someone, and has a kid, and all that jazz? And I do, too? Is it Kent? Because, I just gotta say, I am totally not feelin' it."

"Shall we tell them?" Rick asked Carmen.

"Tell us _what?"_ Marty pressed.

"The four ancestors contain one couple," Carmen explained.

"Me and Tamsin? No thanks!" Marty snorted.

"No, no, no," Carmen chuckled a bit. "That bloody stupid cousin incest law really has you tied up in knots, eh? It's Michael Daniels and Tamsin Porter – they are forebears to Richard's father, Steven Daniels, but not together at the same time. You and Dana here are the couple. You are ancestors to his mother, Chloe Masterson."

Dana's jaw dropped open and trembled a little. "So, uh, so are we Darragh's ancestors, too?"

"In the correct timeline, yes," Rick confirmed.

"Dammit, Richard," Dana said, "you said you and I hooked up in some of the alternate timelines. I mean, isn't _that_ incest?"

"A few centuries, and it doesn't matter," Carmen explained. "Richard here might not have much discretion at times," she raised an eyebrow a little, "but he certainly wasn't committing incest with you."

"Dana, Marty," Rick looked at them both solemnly. "That wasn't incest, not any more than the two of you being together is. The incest law is wrong when it comes to second cousin marriages. You don't just exist to ensure that my mother is born. Your purpose in life is also to get that damned law repealed. It is unjust and unfair, and it doesn't do what it was intended to do, anyway. In the prime timeline, you fight it."

"Do we win?" Dana asked.

"You will be together," Carmen declared, perhaps a bit ambiguously.

Marty and Dana had been standing next to each other, and he took her hand. "How are you even alive if your own mother is not? Is this a sophisticated hologram program, or something?"

"There's the temporal field. It protects those of us who work at the Temporal Integrity Commission. We can still fix things, and the department doesn't lose any traveling agents, even if our families are wiped by temporal alterations," Rick explained.

"I can't believe that we're that important to the timeline," Dana said. "It seems ludicrous."

"Well, it's partly because of Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett," Carmen clarified. "But it's also due to who both of you are, and what you do, and what you try to do. I imagine that you are a bit more important than you may realize."

Marty looked at Dana, and Dana looked back at Marty, and it seemed as if time itself might have stopped there. Finally, Rick suggested, "There's a back room; it's private. I'm guessing you've got a few things you might want to talk about."

"Will we remember any of this once the line is restored?" asked Marty.

"Not really, but we'll give you the tools you will need in order to get the prime timeline back on the proper track," Rick explained.

"So you'll be there to guide us and help us along, and give us hints?" Dana asked.

"Probably not," Rick admitted. "I'll need to go after the Temporal Cold War faction that set the wheels in motion. But I know you'll be all right. It's in the master time file. It is going to happen."

"I'm glad you're so confident about it," Dana said. "That room's back here?"

"Right through this door." Carmen guided them, and then turned on a holographic display which converted the room – a bedroom done up like a bachelor pad – into more of an outdoor scene. It was a glider swing on a porch, circa 1950 or so. There was a side table with a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses, and the sun was setting over a cornfield. It looked and felt like a late summer evening.

"You planned this?" Dana asked.

"No," Carmen assured her. "This is just Holographic Simulated Scene #42." She left them, shutting the door behind her.

Tentatively, they sat down together. "I, uh," Marty began, suddenly nervous. "After decades of being told 'no', it's pretty strange for that to be turned into 'yes'."

Dana cupped his face in her hands. "You know, I have always loved you, Marty. Even when I was a baby, I knew I loved you."

"I loved you even before you were born, Mystic," he answered, and they kissed long, lingering. He got down onto the floor of the porch, knees creaking in protest. He looked up at where Dana was sitting. "Can we get married? I mean," he face palmed, "will you marry me?"

"Yes, yes, of course! In this or any other timeline, I will always love you and I will always want to spend my life with you. I love you, Martin Douglas Madden."

"I love you, too, Misty Dana MacKenzie. _MDM Twins_ forever."

=/\=

In the front of the ship, where piloting and other essential tasks were performed, Carmen asked Rick, "Have you got enough background on Yi'imspi?"

"I do. Let's beam them back to the _Enterprise-E_ and get out of here. All we need to do is stop Yi'imspi."

"Then you'll need to get on the _Cookie_ , Richard."

"I'll take a time portal."


	18. 18-Restoration

**Chapter 18 – Restoration**

Marty and Dana were beamed back to Sick Bay, right at the time that they had been beamed out originally. "Oh!" exclaimed Dr. Crusher. Then, gathering her wits about her, she said, "Security, cancel that request. It looks like the attempted beam-out was unsuccessful. Crusher out." She tapped her communicator pin, and then noticed that they were holding hands. "I see you're at a point where a lot of us hoped you would be."

"Hmm?" asked Marty.

"You're together," the doctor clarified. "Or, at least, it looks like you are. If I'm mistaken, then I apologize."

"Nothing to apologize for," Dana assured her. "And you're right; we are together." She looked at Marty and smiled, and he gazed and smiled right back at her.

"Good!" Crusher enthused. "That law is awful."

"Right; that's evidently our purpose. Or at least, it's one of our purposes," Marty said.

"Yeah, we're also supposed to have at least one kid," Dana added.

"But that'll all be in the prime timeline," Marty stated. "I get the feeling that Rick is about ready to work on putting it all back."

=/\=

Marty was right. Rick and Carmen looked over their instruments. "Let's do this," Carmen suggested. "I'll fly you over and deposit you where you need to be. Then I'll head back to _Audrey."_

"All right. Do we have information on what happens afterwards?" he asked.

"If it all snaps back into place, then the master time file's copy of their trial transcript will be accurate. But I don't think you'll need to stay quite so long as all that. Go in, keep Yi'imspi from setting off a pulse shot, and then get out, I'd say."

"Makes sense to me. I'll need to infiltrate the Temporal Cold War faction, I figure."

"We might be able to get someone from the Section to pose as a historian. If you can disable this so-called Future Guy's capabilities, then that should slow down this horrid Temporal arms race, and maybe even end it."

"Here's hoping. Uh, Carmen?"

"Yes, Richard?"

"I wanna thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet my ancestors."

"I'm certain you've got several more. After all, at some point, I think you should meet Hayes."

"Now that would _really_ be something."

=/\=

"Yes, they're back," Crusher reported via her communicator. "I'll have them return to the conference room. As for my patient, I can't let her go just yet. She just regained consciousness."

"Understood. Picard out."

As they left Sick Bay, Dana turned and said to Beverly, "I hope you'll come to our wedding."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

They walked through the halls, hand in hand. At one point, Marty backed Dana into a wall, and kissed her. "Hard for me to wait," he murmured.

"Probably because of other hardnesses."

"Yeah, definitely. You do it for me like no other does, Mystic."

"We'd better go, while we've still got a timeline."

They arrived at the conference room, still hand in hand. Tamsin angrily leapt to her feet. "They're committing incest!" she bellowed.

"Oh, go sit the hell down, Cousin Tamsin," Dana wearily protested. She turned to Mike. "I don't know what your descendant sees in her descendant."

"My, my _what?"_ He blanched a little.

"We're gonna fight the law," Marty announced. "And Rick is probably going to put it all back soon. But I want it to be known, now, and on the record, that Dana and I are going to marry, and we are going to fight the incest law. Sir," he turned to Picard, "if you need for me to resign my commission, then I will do so, and I will do it gladly. This," he turned to Dana, smiling at her again, "is infinitely more important."

"Of course you'll stay on," Picard declared. "And do allow me to be the first to congratulate you. And if you like, I would be most honored to perform the ceremony."

"The honor would be all ours, sir," replied Dana, who grinned from ear to ear as Tamsin fumed.

=/\=

"Preparing for time jump," Carmen announced. She sat in the ship's copilot's chair and flipped a few switches.

"Ready," Rick replied. He was sitting in the pilot's chair and performed somewhat similar operations. "We've been in this timeline for five days."

"All right, then. Preparing to jump back to September 25th of 2379, when Yi'imspi fired the dark matter pulse shot."

"Better make it two days before that," Rick suggested.

Carmen threw a few switches. "Confirmed. Audrey, what are our vitals?"

 _This vessel is fully fueled and is operating at peak efficiency. Agent Daniels and Admiral Calavicci are found to be optimally healthy. There are no damages, malfunctions, or injuries at this time._

"All right, let's do this," Rick said.

Revved up on dark matter and energy, the _Audrey Niffenegger_ altered a stream of chronitons as it began to reverse itself temporally.

The space around the ship bent and was distorted slightly, and then it suddenly snapped back and into place. The effect was nearly instantaneous.

The _Cookie_ moved from where it had been, under the command of a Gorn named Szish, who was dead again after the change. Yi'imspi was no longer in Sick Bay on the _Enterprise-E;_ she was perfectly healthy and back on the _Cookie._ Other people were whisked off the _Enterprise-E_ and back onto the _Cookie,_ including Wesley Crusher, M'Belle and Tag Shaw.

On the _Enterprise-E,_ Mike Daniels was automatically switched from the nighttime Tactical position to the day shift. On-loan crew member Tamsin Porter was seamlessly shifted back to the _Talos_.

Dana was nearly instantly transferred from Tactical on the _Enterprise-E_ to being the captain and the owner of the _Cookie._ Kent Hoberman was no longer reconciled with his wife and was back to being her boyfriend. His Mirror counterpart, EK, was back in the right universe, and Darragh Masterson, as was proper, had not been born yet.

And Marty, inexplicably to himself, was standing, alone, in the front of a conference room for what looked like a very important meeting of some of the Hayes descendants with the captain and B-4. Guinan was back in _Ten Forward,_ having never been invited to the meeting. The admirals were also not invited, so they had not been patched in. It was just the captain, B-4, Geordi, Mike Daniels, and him.

Marty felt bereft, as if something was missing, or something had been snatched away from him at the last minute. The odd feeling was uncomfortable and unpleasant.

Picard furrowed a brow. He had forgotten the reason for the meeting, and apparently so had everyone else. He looked at the assembly. "Dismissed."

 **THE END**


End file.
